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DURRETT COLLECTION 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION 

AS TAUGHT -IN THE BIBLE. 


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ME. FLETCHER'S LAST CHECK TO 
ANTINOMIANISM. 


WITH 

ADDITIONS AND APPENDIXES. 

BY THE .. 

BEY. SAMUEL D. AKIl^, A.M. 


'BE YE PEKFECT." JESUS CHRIST. 


J. B. M'FERRIN, AGENT. 

AND FOB SALE BY A. H. KEDFOB.D, AGENT, LOTTISVULE CONFERENCE 
DEPOSITOBY, IOUISVILLE, KY. 

1860. 


Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1860, by 

SAMUEL D. AKIN, 

in the office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Middle 
District of Tennessee. 


STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY A. A. STITT, 
SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, NASHVILLE, TENN. 


TO 


OF WHATEVER NAME, 
WITH A SINCERE DESIRE TO PROMOTE 

UNITY OF F A\E T H 
AND INCREASE OF LOVE, 

THIS WORK 

IS PRAYERFULLY DEDICATED. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.. 13 

PREFACE TO THE "LAST CHECK:" Sincere obedience leads to perfect 
obedience. Reasons for calling Christian Imperfectionism Anti- 
nomian: 1. The principle is lawless. 2. Argument, & fortiori. 
3. The same arguments that defend this dogma uphold the grossest 
immoralities. This doctrine leads unavoidably to a death-purga- 
tory. The four kinds of purgatory : 1. Heathen. 2. Papist. 3. 
Imperfectionist, or death-purgatory. 4. The true purgatory of 
Christ's blood 17 

CHAPTER I. 

CHRISTIAN PERFECTION SCRIPTTJRALLY DEFINED. 

Opposition to it mostly the result of misapprehension. The word 
perfection frequent in Scripture and in common use. Definition. 
Sinless perfection. Extracts from Matthew Henry and Archbishop 
Leighton. The law can and must be kept. 25 

CHAPTER II. 

MISTAKES AS TO WHAT IS SINFUL, CORRECTED. 

I. Peccability confounded with sin. II. Innocent infirmities con- 
founded with sin: 1. Moses makes the distinction. 2. So does 
Christ. 3, 4, 5. And Paul. 6. If no such distinction, Christ was 
a sinner. The difference pointed out. III. It is imagined that 
God requires more than we can do. 1. Reason and Scripture deny 
it. 2. Then are angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, 

(5) 


G CONTENTS. 

sinners. 3. And so is Christ. IV. Inadvertencies in conduct, 
proceeding from errors in judgment, hare been confounded -with 
sins. All sin springs from the intention. V. Our natural suscep- 
tibilities have been supposed to be of themselves sinful. We were 
created with them, yet in the likeness of God. Then was Christ a 
sinner. VI. Temptation is not sin. What temptation is. Desire 
the essential element. Extracts. Illustrations. Christ tempted 
as we, in degree and kind. The point at which sin begins, when 
under temptation. VII. Christian perfection "does not preclude 
subsequent growth 33 

CHAPTER III. 

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

Misapprehension the chief cause of objections. Objection I. Your 
doctrine of Christian perfection leads to pride. II. It leads to 
self-exaltation. III. It fosters self-conceit. IV. It sets repent- 
ance aside. V. It makes us slight Christ. All these are impossi- 
ble, being directly opposed to the very nature of Christian perfec- 
tion. VI. If sin be dead, why watch against and mortify it ? 1. 
Perfect Adam needed to do so. 2. Peccability and temptation are 
not sin. 3. Christ needed to watch. VII. It renders it unneces- 
sary to say the Lord's Prayer. 1. Forgiving others is a condition 
of our being forgiven. 2. None finally justified till the last judg- 
ment. 3. Then the results of our actions will be called into 
account. 4. It fosters a forgiving spirit. 5. It cultivates a ben- 
evolent spirit. VIII. It destroys a powerful incentive to humility. 
Answer : Sin humbles no one. Perfect holiness is perfectly op- 
posed to sin. Experience disproves it. To be humbled for sin is 
not to be humbled by sin. IX. We are perfect in Christ, and not 
in ourselves. Answer : In one sense, true ; in another, not true, 
for various reasons. 1. We are exhorted to go on to perfection. 
2. All would then be equally perfect. 3. There is a difference 
between our good works and the person of Christ. 4. Christ shows 
that his perfection will not be accepted in the place of our good 
works. 5. Some things necessary to Christian perfection could 
not have been in Christ at all. 6. The doctrine is mischievous. 
7. The Christian's perfection, though derived from Christ, is in- 


CONTEN'TS. / 

herent in himself. 8. It is the offspring of the doctrine of the 
imputed righteousness of Christ, which is -proved to be erroneous. 
9. Imputed obedience stands on the same footing ; besides, 1. It is 
never mentioned in the law. 2. If we obey by proxy, we may sin 
ad libitum 50 

GHAPTEE IY. 

ANSWERS TO THE ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF THE NECESSARY 
CONTINUANCE OF INDWELLING SIN. 

I. It is necessary to exercise our patience and industry. Answer : 
Christ did not need sin for this purpose ; nor do we : we have 
enough to do and suffer besides. II. It magnifies God. Answer : 
That is, unmasked, "Let us continue in sin, that grace may 
abound;" "the more we sin, the more is he glorified." III. It is 
necessary in order that we may feel the evil of sin. 1. The dwell- 
ing of sin in us makes us love sin, instead of making us feel the 
"evil and bitterness of sin." 2. Christ on the cross teaches us 
this more effectually than sin or Satan. 3. The thief learned it on 
the cross in a few hours, and why cannot we? 4. Christ and 
angels abhor sin, and yet never had indwelling sin to teach it 
them. The devil loves it, though taught its bitter nature for ages. 
Human experience disproves it. 5. Christ cast all the devils out 
of Mary and others at once. TV. It is needful to punish us for 
unfaithfulness. Answer : 1. Believers are not necessitated to unfaith- 
fulness. 2. If they are, it is our unfaithfulness, and not necessity, 
that is punishable ; else God necessitates us to unfaithfulness in 
order to punish us. V. By it we distinguish the strength and 
genuineness of gi*ace. Answer: Speech of the libertine. I.Christ's 
conflicts showed it more clearly. 2. The removal of the disorder 
shows the strength of the medicine more than do the struggles of 
nature. 3. This argument represents Christ as using such a 
remedy as occasionally relieves symptoms, instead of healing the 
disease. VI. It wins us from the world. Answer: 1. The more 
free from sin we are, the more we long for heaven. 2. Indwelling 
sin is a clog, rather than a spur, in the heavenly race. VII. In- 
dwelling sins can be destroyed only by degrees, gradually, as the 
enemies of Israel were expelled by little and little, and they make 


8 ' CONTENTS. 

us keep our armor bright, etc. Answer : 1. Historical allusions 
cannot prove an important doctrine. 2. But if they could, this 
passage would not prove what it is here charged with, for indwell- 
ing sin cannot, like the Canaanites, be converted to God. 3. This 
argument is built upon two false premises : (a.) " Corruption makes 
us keep our armor bright." Enough to make us do so without 
this. An enemy will not make us be at extra pains to fight against 
him. (b. ) " Sin will increase upon us by destroying sin." Absurd ! 
4. The historical allusion has no reference to indwelling sin ; and 
if it had, it would not prove that doctrine. 5. The Bible nowhere 
commands us not to consume sin at once. But how long, accord- 
ing to this supposition, would it take to drive out or destroy 
sin? 62 


CHAPTER V. 

CHRISTIAN PERFECTION ATTAINABLE IN THIS LIFE. 

I. Death not necessary to perfect man's moral nature. 1. Physi- 
cal and moral disorders have no affinity. 2. The physical part of 
man's nature does not sin. 3. Death defined. It does not affect 
our moral nature or standing. 4. Age does not make us less sin- 
ful. 5. Disease does not better us morally. 6. If death frees us 
from sin at all, it does altogether. 7. Death takes away the possi- 
bility of being made perfect. 8. God could have appointed death 
as our cleanser, but he did not. 9. Hence, we must be cleansed, 
if ever, before or after death. 10. If we may be cleansed two or 
three minutes before death, why not two or three years ? II. We 
prove it from these additional arguments : 1. It accords with the 
full tenor of the gospel. 2. Christ cleanses the inward as well as 
the outward man. 3. The atonement possesses a present cleansing 
power. 4. "VVe cannot be both good and bad at the same time. 

5. The duties of the perfect Christian pertain only to this life. 

6. God's word requires these duties in this life. 7. It fixes this 
world as the scene of this perfection of love. 8. Scriptural in- 
stances of its attainment. 9. The ministry instituted for this pur- 
pose. 10. For this, Christ came and died. 11. It is attainable 
now or never. 12. "Where are the perfect Christians?" consid- 

ered 76 


CONTENTS. 9 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE MISCHIEVOUSNESS OF THE DOCTRINE OF CHRISTIAN 

IMPERFECTION. 

1. It strikes at the root of salvation by faith. 2. It dishonors Christ 
as our Prophet. 3. As the Captain of our salvation. 4. As the 
Surety of the new covenant. 5. As our King. 6. As the Restorer 
of pure worship in the heart. 7. As our Priest. Item : Our doc- 
trine honors Christ most. 8. As the Fulfiller of the Father's 
promise. 9. It makes us overlook the promises. 10. It defeats 
the end of the gospel precepts. 11. It unnerves our deepest 
prayers. 12. It encourages lukewarmness. 13. It discourages 
those who would be made perfectly holy. 14. Men will prefer a 
death-purgatory to a Popish one 95 

CHAPTER VII. 

ANSWER TO THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST CHRISTIAN PERFEC- 
TION DRAWN FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

The privileges of the Jewish were inferior to those of the Christian 
dispensation ; hence, the latter cannot be measured by the former. 
I. Answer to the argument from 1 Kings viii. 46. II. From 
Eccl. vii. 20. III. From Prov. xx. 9. IV. From Isaiah Ixiv. 6. 
V. From Isaiah vi. 5. VI. From Job ix. 20. VII. From Job 
xlii. 6. Vlll. From Job xv. 15-18. IX. From Job xv. 14; 
xiv. 4 110 

CHAPTER VIII. 

ANSWERS TO THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST CHRISTIAN PER- 
FECTION DRAWN FROM THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER AND 
ST. JAMES. 

I. 1. Evidences from Peter's first Epistle, that he was not an imperfec- 
tionist. 2. Evidences from Peter's second Epistle, that he was not 
an imperfectionist. 3. The subject would have led to an explicit 
statement of the doctrine of the imperfectionists, if it had been 
true. II. St. James not an imperfectionist, shown from his Epis- 
t tie. Objection from James iii. 2, also from chapter iv. 5, an- 
swered 118 


10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTE.R IX. 

ST. PAUL /WAS NOT AN IMPERFECTIONIST. 

His teachings show it. Answer to objection from Phil. iii. 12. Dif- 
ferent kinds and degrees of perfection. Answer to objection from 
Gal. v. 17 . 125 

CHAPTER X. 

ST. PAUL NOT AN IMPERFECTIONIST, CONTINUED. 

Objection from Rom. vii. 14-25 answered. Several arguments against 
our interpretation of this passage, considered. I. If the Corinth- 
ians could be carnal and yet holy, why could not Paul ? II. Paul 
was a saint in his renewed part. III. Because the man in Rom. vii. 
"delighted in the law of God," etc., he was partaker of apostolic 
holiness. TV. The same man asks, "Who shall deliver me ?" etc. ; 
was he not, then, a Christian believer ? V. Paul confesses to the 
charge of indwelling sin, for he speaks of the "thorn in his flesh," 
etc. VI. Paul contended with Barnabas : contention is a work of 
the flesh; therefore Paul was carnal 135 

CHAPTEE XI. 

ST. PAUL IS A STRONG ADVOCATE OF CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

Shown by a strong picture of himself and the perfect Christian, 
drawn by his own hand 154 

CHAPTER XII. 

ST. JOHN IS A POWERFUL PLEADER FOR CHRISTIAN PER- 
FECTION. 

That 1 John i. 8 does not prove the opposite shown from, I. The 
design of the Epistle. II. The context. III. The general tenor 
of the Epistle 160 

CHAPTER XIII. 

A SUMMARY OF THE WHOLE ARGUMENT. 

J. There is such a thing taught in the Scriptures as perfection. II. 
' It is a perfection of love. Item : Excited emotion is not an cssen 


CONTENTS. 11 

tial accompaniment. III. Why objected to by the good. TV. 
Summary of the argument. 1. Moses taught it. 2. The prophets 
foretold the fuller perfection of the coming dispensation. 8. It 
was the object of Christ's advent, and the burden of his teachings. 
4. The writings of the apostles (1,) command us to be holy or per- 
fect; (2,) exhort to it; (3,) contain prayers for others to attain 
it; (4,) contain promises of it. 5. The object of the institution 
of the ministry. 6. The apostles professed it for themselves and 
others. Close 169 

CHAPTEE XIV. 

AN ADDRESS TO PERFECT CHRISTIAN PHARISEES. 

That is, to those who profess Christian perfection, yet do not expe- 
rience it 186 

CHAPTER XV. 

AN ADDRESS TO PREJUDICED IMPERFECTIONISTS. 

A remonstrance. Their doctrine dishonors the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Spirit. The advantages of steadily going on to perfec- 
tion are, 1. An inward testimony of sincerity. 2. Peculiar near- 
ness to God. 3. Bringing more glory to God. 4. Greater useful- 
ness. 5. Fitness for heaven. 6. Present enjoyment of the king- 
dom of God. 7. Greater glorification in heaven. 8. The neglect 
of going on to perfection tends to beget presumption or despair. 
9. Indwelling sin is the hell of hells. " Do perfectionists live more 
holy than others ?" 1. Good principles beget good actions. Yet 
some "hold the truth in unrighteousness." 2. Some who oppose 
it in word, profess it in heart and life. 3. But perfect perfectionists 
bring God most glory 201 

CHAPTEE XVI. 

ADDRESS TO THOSE WHO DESIRE CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

Directions for its attainment : I. Understand it. II. Believe it taught 
of God. III. Desire it. IV. Resolve to gain it. V. Repent. 
VI. Consecrate yourself to God: 1. Unconditionally; 2. Entirely; 
3. Eternally. As a consequence, you will, 1. Bear the cross; 2. 


12 CONTENTS. 

Deny yourself. Submit in resignation to his whole will concerning 
you. Temptation, when endured and not yielded to, a great pro- 
motive of sanctification. VII. Have faith. Scriptural testimony. 
Definition. VIII. Social prayer. IX. Alone. General exhorta- 
tions 227 

CHAPTER XVII. 

AN ADDRESS TO PERFECT CHRISTIANS. 

I. Your perfection may be lost. II. You will be tempted, and will 
suffer, even to death. III. You need wisdom. IV. This is not a 
perfection of rapture, but of meekness, of humility, of love. V. If, 
as Christ, you be called to suffer much, still have faith. Remem- 
ber, love is the height of perfection. VI. Love is humble. Own 
your faults. VII. You are still sinners, only as momentarily 
saved by Christ. VIII. Bear each other's burdens. IX. Avoid 
bigotry. X. Be happy in God alone. XL Expect arduous. duties, 
hindrances, and opposition. XII. Be diligent in every duty now. 
XIII. Talk but little, and only for the glory of Gott. XIV. 'By 
words and actions declare your attainments. XV. Acknowledge 
God in all your works. XVI. Paul's example. Hymns 268 

APPENDIX I. 

Eeferring to Fletcher's " Checks," Vol. II., p. 498, of the edition 
published by the Methodist Episcopal Church at New York 298 

APPENDIX II. 
Eeferring to page 646 of the "Checks" 301 

APPENDIX III. 

Eeferring to paragraph "X." on page 664 of the "Checks" 303 


AUTHORS PEEFACE. 


THOSE acquainted with the theological contro- 
versies of the last century are aware that the 
" Checks to Antinomianism" originated in the strug- 
gles attending the rise of Methodism. Like all such 
controversies, this called forth many allusions, 
personal and miscellaneous, possessing no general 
interest ; and dictated an arrangement of the parts 
of the argument, not best suited to a lucid, per- 
spicuous presentation of the subject. Several 
arguments of only a local character concern us but 
little ; and so of an entire section which presents 
the teachings of the Church of England on this 
subject. The diifuseness of Mr. Fletcher's style, 
generally remarkable for its perspicuity, sometimes 
obscures his meaning. Moreover, the discussion 
of the subject since his day has drawn out addi- 
tional arguments, and elicited new views ; some 
of which, it will not be denied, shed light on im- 
portant points which seem to have presented diffi- 
culties to the mind of this great contender for 
the faith. 

(13) 


14 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

The desire to see his inimitable argument before 
the public, freed from these defects, and in a cheap, 
portable form, is what prompted the preparation 
of the present volume. Complete success is not 
claimed; the verdict of the candid -reader will 
decide how nearly it has been attained. < ,. - 

These pages will be found to contain the entire 
argument of Mr. Fletcher with the exceptions 
above indicated usually in his own language, 
though not unfrequently abbreviated for the sake 
of brevity or perspicuity; and much additional mat- 
ter, original and selected, has been introduced, 
which is distinguished from the matter of the 
" Checks " by brackets before and after. Quota- 
tions introduced by the reviser are enclosed by 
both brackets and quotation marks. 

The necessity for such a work as this, is, per- 

. haps, sufficiently apparent. Amidst the niultipli- 

I city of books that of late years have issued on this 

subject, none have presented that clearness and 

force peculiar to Mr. Fletcher's work. Many 

have contained .dogmas tainted with error. A 

theory seems to have gained some ground not, 

perhaps, in a verbal announcement, yet in its 

practical outworkings that this exalted state so 

lifts us above the cares of this life, that we are 

| permitted, nay, at times required, to disregard the 

\ claims of family duty and social relationship, 


AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 15 

instead of calling to a more earnest and spiritual 
fulfilment^ Many of the professed friends of this 
doptrine have so grossly misconceived and conse- 
quently misrepresented it, and its theoretical ene- 
mies have so misstated and perverted it, that it is 
thought best to guard against a more general 
extension of these pernicious influences. Hence, 
a correct, sharply defined presentation of the Bible 
teachings on this subject, and of their practical 
operations, such as we humbly trust is contained 
in this volumejhas been a considerable desideratum. 
Again, a spirit of earnest inquiry on this subject is 
being aroused. A deeper interest is gaining hold 
on the heart of the Church. A restoration of 
Fletcher's clear and powerful work is needed to 
direct the channel in which this current shall flow; 
to deepen and widen the gathering stream; and 
to give a correct, scriptural exposition of the 
doctrine. 

We opine that the candid evangelical Christian, 
whatever may be the type of his theological theory, 
will find that his views harmonize with most that 
he may meet with in these pages. The main dif- 
ference, we are persuaded, in the opinions of this 
class of Christians is in their definitions of the 
words " perfection " and " sin," and their cog- 
nates. These being settled, little room remains 
for controversy. 


16 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

That this revival of Fletcher's incomparable 
writings may help to bring about a closer union of 
sentiment among true Christians, and may prove 
adequate to aid greatly in the spread of scriptural 
holiness over these lands, and may be the means 
of presenting many perfect in the day of Jesus 
Christ, is the earnest hope and. fervent prayer of 

THE AUTHOR. 
HARDINSBTJRG, Kr v November 1, 1859. 


" 


PREFACE TO THE "LAST CHECK. 


"SINCERE obedience, as a condition, will lead 
unavoidably up .to perfect obedience." Though 
this has been urged as an argument against our 
views of the gospel, it is one of the reasons by 
which we defend them, and perhaps the strongest 
of all ; for our doctrine leads as naturally to holi- 
ness and perfect obedience, as that of our oppo- 
nents does to sin and imperfection. If the streams 
of their doctrine never stop until they have carried 
men into a sea of indwelling sin, where they are 
left to contend with waves of immorality or with 
billows of corruption all the days of their life, it 
is evident that our doctrine, which is the very 
reverse of theirs, must take us to a sea of indwell- 
ing holiness, where we calmly outride all the storms 
which Satan raised to destroy Job's perfection, 
and where all our pursuing corruptions are as much 
destroyed as the Egyptians were in, the Red Sea. 

Truth, like Moses's rod, is all of a piece; and so 
is the serpent which truth destroys. The error 
which we attack is possessed of the venomous, 

(17) 


18 PREFACE TO 

mortal sting of indwelling sin. On the rod with 
which we defend ourselves against that smooth, 
biting error, may be found the pearl of great price, 
the invaluable diamond of Christian perfection. 
Shall the sting be preserved, or the jewel recov- 
ered ? We contend for the latter. 

The following' are the reasons why we brand 
this doctrine as Antinomian : 

1. All who represent Christian believers as law- 
less first, by denying that Christ's law is a rule 
of judgment which absolutely requires our own 
personal obedience ; secondly, by representing this 
law as a mere rule of life ; and, thirdly, by insin- 
uating that this rule of life is, after all, absolutely 
impracticable: that a perfect fulfilment of it is 
not expected from any believer ; that there never 
was a Christian who lived one day without break- 
ing it ; and that believers can be eternally saved 
merely because Christ kept it for them all these, 
I say, who hold this solifidiah doctrine concerning 
Christ's law, are Antinonaians, with a witness; 
that is, they are lawless Christians in principle, if 
not in practice. Now, all those who attack the 
doctrine which we maintain, are under this three- 
fold error concerning Christ's law, and, therefore, 
they are all Antinomians, that is, lawless in prin- 
ciple, though many of them, we are persuaded, are 
not so in practice : the fear of God causing in them 


THE "LAST CHECK." 19 

a happy inconsistency between their legal conduct 
and their lawless tenets. 

2. If those who plead for the breaking of Christ's 
law, by the necessary indwelling of a revengeful 
thought, only for one week or one day, are bare- 
faced Antinomians, what shall we say of the men 
who, on various pretences, plead for the necessary 
indwelling of all manner of corruption during the 
term of life ? Can it be said that these men are 
free from the plague of Antinomianism ? 

3. And last. When the reader comes to that 
chapter in which are produced and answered .the 
arguments by which the ministers of the imperfect 
gospel defend the continuance of indwelling sin in 
all believers until death, he will find that their 
strongest reasons are the very same that the law- 
less apostates and most daring renegades daily 
produce, when they plead for their continuance in 
drunkenness, lying, and every form of gross immo- 
rality ; and if these immoral gospellers deserve the 
name of gross Antinomians, why should not the 
moral men who hold their loose principles, and 
publicly recommend them, as " doctrines of grace," 
deserve the name of refined Antinomians ? May 
not a silk-weaver, who softly works a piece of 
taffeta, be as justly called a weaver as the man 
who weaves the coarsest sackcloth? 

From these considerations, we conclude : 1. 


20 PEEFACE TO 

There is no medium between pleading for the 
continuance of indwelling sin, and pleading for the 
continuance of heart-Antinomianism. And, 2. 
All who attack the doctrine of sinless perfection 
deserve, when they do so, the name of advocates 
for sin, better than the name of gospel ministers 
and preachers of righteousness*. I am conscious 
that this twofold conclusion wounds, in. the ten- 
derest part, some of my dear, mistaken brethren in 
the ministry, whom, on various accounts, I highly 
honor in the Lord. Nevertheless, conscience 
obliges me to publish it, lest any of my readers, or 
any of those whom they may warn, should be led 
into Antinomianism through the mistakes of those 
popular preachers ; for the interests of truth, the 
honor of Christ's holy religion, and the welfare of 
precious souls, are, and ought to be, to me and to 
every Christian, far dearer than the credit of some 
good, injudicious men, who inadvertently under- 
mine the cause of godliness ; thinking to do God 
service by stretching forth a solifidian hand to 
uphold the ark of gospel truth. 

Theirs is a dangerous mistake, which is insepa- 
rably connected with the doctrine of a purgatory 
little better than that of the Papists. For it is 
evident that if we cannot be purged from the 
remains of sin in this life, we must be purged from 
them in death, or after death, or we must be ban- 


THE "LAST CHECK." 21 

ished for ever from Grod's presence ; for reason and 
Scripture jointly depose that nothing unholy or 
unclean shall enter the heavenly Jerusalem. 

If we understand by purgatory the manner in 
which souls still polluted with the remains of sin 
are or may be purged from these remains, that 
they may see a holy Grod, and dwell with him for 
ever, the question, "Which is the true purga- 
tory ?" is by no means frivolous, for it is the grand 
inquiry, " How shall I be eternally saved ? " pro- 
posed in different expressions. 

There are four opinions concerning purgatory, 
or the purgation of the soul from the remains of 
sin. The wildest is that of the heathens, who sup- 
posed " that those who depart this life with moral 
filth cleaving to them are purified by being hanged 
out to sharp, cutting winds ; by being plunged 
into a deep, impetuous whirlpool ; or by being 
thrown into a refining fire in some Tartarean 
region." 

The second opinion is that of the Romanists, 
who teach that such souls are completely sanctified 
by the virtue of Christ's blood, and the sharp ope- 
ration of a penal, temporary fire in the suburbs 
of hell. 

The third opinion is that of the opponents of 
this doctrine which we support ; who think that 
the stroke of death must absolutely be joined with 


22 PREFACE TO 


Christ's blood and Spirit, and with our faith, to 
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts, and to kill the 
inbred man of sin. 

The last sentiment is that which teaches that 
there is no other purgatory but " Christ's blood 
steadfast, perfect faith, and the inspiration of God's 
Holy Spirit, cleansing the thoughts of our hearts, 
that we may perfectly love him, and worthily mag- 
nify his holy name. The only purgatory wherein 
we must trust to be saved is the death and blood 
of Christ, which if we apprehend with a true and 
saving faith, it purgeth and cleans eth us from all 
sins. 'The blood of Christ,' says St. John, 'hath 
cleansed us from all sin.' ' The blood of Christ,' 
says St. Paul, c hath purged our consciences from 
dead works to serve the living God,' etc. This, 
then, is the purgatory wherein all Christian men 
put their trust and confidence." 

The Scripture doctrine of purgatory is vindicat- 
ed, and the new-fangled doctrine of a death-purga- 
tory is exploded, in the following pages ; wherein 
I endeavor to defend the "glorious liberty of the 
children of God," and to attack the false liberty of 
those who, while they promise liberty to others in 
Christ, are themselves doctrinally, at least the 
" servants of corruption," pleading hard for the 
indwelling of sin in our hearts so long as we live, 
and thinking it almost blasphemous to assert that 


THE "LAST CHECK." 23 

Christ's blood, fully applied by the Spirit, through 
a steadfast faith, can radically "cleanse us from all 
sin," without the least assistance from the arrows 
or sweats of death. 

Reader, I plead for the most precious liberty in 
the world heart-liberty for liberty from the 
most galling of all yokes the ypke of heart-cor- 
ruption. Let not thy prejudices turn a deaf ear 
to the important plea. If thou, candidly, believ- 
ingly, and practically receive the "truth as it is in 
Jesus, it shall make thee free, and thou shalt be 
free indeed." 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


CHAPTER I. 

CHRISTIAN PERFECTION SCRIPTtrRALLT DEFINED. 

MOST of the controversies which arise between 
men who fear God, spring from the hurry with 
which some of them find fault with what they have 
not yet examined, and speak evil of what they do 
not understand. Why do so many good people 
attack the doctrine for which we contend ? Is it 
because they are sworn enemies to righteousness, 
and zealous protectors of iniquity? Not at all. 
The grand reason, next to their prejudice, is their 
inattention to the question, and to the arguments 
by which our sentiments are supported. We think 
that if they understood our doctrine, they would 
no more pour contempt upon it than upon the 
oracles of God. If producing light is the best 
method of opposing darkness, setting the doctrine 
of Christian perfection in its proper point of view 
will be the best" method of opposing the doctrines 

(25) 


26 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

of Christian imperfection and of a death-purgatory. 
Begin we, then, by taking a view of our Jerusalem 
and her perfection. 

CHRISTIAN PERFECTION ! "Why should the harm- 
less phrase offend? Perfection! Why should 
that lovely word frighten us ? Is it not common 
and plain? Is it wrong to observe that fruit 
groivn to maturity is in its perfection ? We use the 
word perfection in exactly the same sense ; giving 
that name to the maturity of grace peculiar to 
established believers under their respective dispen- 
sations ; and if this be an error, we are led into it 
by the sacred writers, who use the word perfection 
as well as we. It occurs, with all its derivatives, 
as frequently as most words in the Scriptures, and 
not seldom in the very same sense in which we 
take it. Now, the declaration of our Lord does 
not permit us to renounce the word nor the thing : 
" Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my 
words, in this sinful generation, of him also shall 
the Son of nian be ashamed when he cometh in 
the glory of his Father." Now, the words of my 
motto, " Be ye perfect," being Christ's own words, 
we dare no more be ashamed of, than we dare de- 
sire him to be ashamed of us in the great day. 

We give the name of Christian perfection to that 
maturity of grace and holiness which established 
believers attain under the Christian dispensation ; 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 27 

and thus we distinguish that maturity of grace, 
both from- the ripeness of grace which belongs to 
the dispensation of the Jews below us, and from 
the ripeness of glory which belongs to the departed 
saints above us. [We also distinguish the perfec- . 
tion of men's moral faculties from that of the physi- 
cal and intellectual. A man of feeble intellect may 
love and serve God as sincerely, as wholly as the 
greatest mind ; an invalid at the gate of the grave, 
as acceptably as the most robust in health and 
strength.] Hence, it appears that by Christian , 
perfection we mean nothing but the cluster and 
maturity of the graces which compose the Christian / 
character in the Church militant. 

In other words, Christian perfection is a spirit- 
ual constellation, made up of these gracious stars : 
perfect repentance, perfect faith, perfect humility, 
perfect meekness, perfect self-denial, perfect resig- 
nation, perfect charity for our visible enemies, as 
well as for our earthly relations ; and, above all, 
perfect love for our invisible God, through the 
explicit knowledge of our Mediator, Jesus Christ. 
And as this last star is always accompanied by the 
others, as Jupiter by his satellites, we frequently 
use, as St. John, the phrase " perfect love," instead 
of perfection ; understanding by it the pure love 
of G-od shed abroad in the heart of established 
believers by the Holy Ghost, which is abundantly 


28 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

given unto them underlie fulness of the Christian 
dispensation. 

If asked whether we contend for a sinless per- 
fection, we reply that, properly understood, we 
do. Our Saviour saith, " Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and 
with all thy mind. This is the first and great 
commandment ; and the second is like unto it: 
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these 
two commandments hang all the law and the pro- 
phets." Matt. xxii. 37-40. And Paul says : 
" Love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. xiii. 10. 
See verses 8, 9 ; also, Gal. v. 14, and 1 Tim. i. 5. 
Thus we see that the law is perfectly fulfilled 
when all the actions are governed by the spirit of 
love to God ; and we contend for a perfection in 
which the love of God is so " shed abroad in our 
hearts" that it controls all the actions and feelings, 
and " sin has no dominion over us." Rom. vi. 14. 

In these views we are supported by the sober 
sentiments of the more pious portion of those who, 
at other times, by tongue and by pen, oppose 
them. " If love be sincere," says pious Mr. Henry, 
" it is accepted as the fulfilling of the law. Surely 
we serve a good Master that has summed up all 
our duty in one word, and that a short word, and 
a sweet word, love, the beauty and the harmony 
of the universe. Loving and being loved is all the 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 29 

pleasure, joy, and happiness of an intelligent being. 
God is love, and love is Ms image upon the soul. 
Where it is, the soul is well moulded, and the 
heart is fitted for every good work." " It is well 
for us that by virtue of the covenant of grace, 
upon the score of Christ's righteousness, sincerity 
is accepted as our gospel perfection." Exposition 
on Rom. xiii. 10, and Gren. vi. 2. 

Bishop Hopkins is of exactly the same mind. 
"Consider," says he, "for your encouragement, 
that this is not so much the absolute and legal 
perfection of the work as the perfection of the 
worker, that is, the perfection of the heart, which 
is looked at and rewarded by Grod. It is not so 
much what our works are, as what our heart is, 
that Grod looks at and rewards." 

Archbishop Leighton pleads also for the perfec- 
tion which we maintain. We give his own words, 
abridged: "By obedience, sanctification is here 
intimated. It signifies both habitual and actual 
obedience, renovation of the heart, and conformity 
to the Divine will. This obedience is universal 
three manner of ways : 1. In the subject. It is 
not in the tongue alone, or in the hand, etc., but 
has its root in the heart. 2. In the object. It 
embraces the whole law. 3. In its duration. The 
whole man is subjected to the whole law, and that 
constantly." Again he says : " To be subject to 


30 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

Grod is truer happiness than to command the whole 
world. Pure love reckons thus, though no further 
reward were to follow, obedience to God (the per- 
fection of his creature and its very happiness) 
carries its full recompense in its own bosom. Yea, 
love delights most in the hardest services. It is 
love to him, indeed, to love the labor of love, and 
the service of it ; and that, not so much because it 
leads to rest, and ends in it, but because it is ser- 
vice to Him whom we love. According as love is, 
so is the soul ; it is made like, yea, it is made one 
with that which it loves. By the love of Grod it 
is made divine, is one with him." Archbishop 
Leighton's Commentary on St. Peter, p. 15, etc. 
Where has the most ardent advocate of this doc- 
trine exceeded these descriptions of Christian 
perfection ? 

We doubt not, as a reasonable father never re- 
quires of his child who is only ten years old the 
work of one who is thirty, that our Heavenly Eather 
never expects of us, in our debilitated state, the 
obedience of immortal Adam in Paradise, nor the 
uninterrupted worship of sleepless angels in hea- 
ven. We are persuaded, therefore, that, for Christ's 
sake, he is pleased with an humble obedience to 
our present light, and a loving exertion of our 
present powers, accepting our services "according 
to what we have, and not according to what we 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 31 

have not." Nor dare we call that loving exertion 
of our present powers, sin; lest, by doing so, we 
should contradict the Scriptures, confound sin and 
obedience, and remove all the landmarks which 
divide the devil's common from the Lord's vine- 
yard. 

To conclude. We believe that although adult, 
established believers, or perfect Christians, may 
admit of many involuntary mistakes, errors, and 
faults, and of many involuntary improprieties of 
speech and behavior ; yet, so long as their will is 
'bent upon doing Grod's will, so long as they "walk 
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," so long as 
they fulfil the law of liberty by pure love, they 
do not sin according to the gospel ; because " sin 
is the transgression, and love is the fulfilling, of 
the law." Far, then, from thinking that there is 
any absurdity in saying daily, "Vouchsafe to keep 
me this day without sin/' we doubt not but, in 
believers " who walk in the light as Christ is in 
the light," that deep petition is answered, the 
righteousness of the law is fulfilled ; and, of con- 
sequence, a sinless perfection, as we have explained 
it, is daily experienced. 

So then, as we are to be judged by the law of 
God, we maintain not only that it may, but also 
that it must be kept, and that it is actually kept 
by established believers. Nor do we think it 


32 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

objectionable to hear an adult believer say, " The 
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made 
nie free from the. law of sin and death ; for what 
the law could not do, in that it was weak through 
the flesh, Gfod, sending his own Son, condemned 
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law 
might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the 
flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. viii. 2, etc. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 33 


CHAPTER II. 

MISTAKES AS TO WHAT IS SINFUL, CORRECTED. 

[MUCH of the fog that has been made to envel- 
op the doctrine of Christian perfection, so as to 
obscure it to the eyes of prejudiced opposers, is 
owing, we doubt not, to the want of a definite 
understanding of what is sinful, and what is not ; 
and their confounding of things which are totally 
distinct, is what constitutes the foundation of some 
of their most serious objections to the glorious 
doctrine for which we contend. 

"We present the reader with some of those things 
which have been involved in this confusion, and 
from which we hope, by bringing them under the 
united rays of reason and revelation, to clear away 
the mist that bedims them.] 

I. They confound peccability with sin the 
power of sinning with the actual use of that 
power. And so long as they suppose that a bare 
natural capacity to sin is either original sin or an 

evil- propensity, we do not wonder at their believ- 

2- 


34 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

ing that original sin or evil propensities must 
remain in our hearts till death removes us from 
this tempting world. But on what argument do 
they found this notion? Did not God create 
angels and men peccable? Or, in other terms, 
did he not endue them with power to sin or not 
to sin, to obey or to disobey, as they pleased ? 
Did not the event show that they had this tre- 
mendous power ? But would it not be blasphe- 
mous to assert that God created them full of 
indwelling sin and evil propensities ? If an adult 
believer yields to temptation and falls into sin, as 
our first parents did, is it a proof that he never 
was cleansed from inbred sin ? If sinning neces- 
sarily demonstrates that the heart was always 
teeming with depravity, will it not follow that 
Adam and Eve were tainted with sin before their 
will began to decline from original righteousness ? 
Is it not, however, indubitable, from the nature of 
God, from Scripture, and from sad experience, that 
after having been created sinless, in God's image 
and holy likeness, our first parents, as well as 
some angels, "were drawn away by their own 
self-conceited lusts," and became evil by the power 
of their own free agency ? Is it reasonable to think 
that the most holy Christians, so long as the day 
of their visitation and probation lasts in this tempt- 
ing wilderness, are in that respect above Adam in 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 35 

Paradise, and above angels in heaven? And may 
we not conclude that as Satan and Adam insensi- 
bly fell into sin, the one from the height of his 
celestial perfection, and the other from the summit 
of his Paradisiacal excellence, without any previous 
bias inclining them to corruption, so may those 
believers whose hearts have been completely puri- 
fied by faith gradually depart from the faith, and 
fall so low as to count the blood of the covenant, 
wherewith they- were sanctified, an unholy thing ? 
II. They confound innocent infirmities with 
sins, and we proceed to show that the distinction 
between them is truly scriptural. 

1. Moses evidently makes the distinction, for 
he punished the daring Sabbath-breaker and the 
rebel with death; while upon such as accidentally 
contracted some involuntary pollution, he inflicted 
no other punishment than separation from the con- 
gregation till evening ; and this made a rational 
and evangelical distinction between the " spot of 
Grod's children" and that of the "perverse and 
crooked generation." Deut. xxxii. 5. 

2. Christ, the merciful Mediator, teaches this, 
no less than stern Moses ; for he makes a wide dif- 
ference between the involuntary drowsiness of the 
eleven disciples in Gethsemane, and the malicious 
watching of the traitor Judas. Of the one he 
said : " It would be good for that man if he had 


36 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

never been born ;" of the other : " The spirit in- 
deed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 

3. Paul writes to Timothy : " Them that sin 
rebuke before all, that others may also fear." 
1 Tim. v. 20. " We that are strong ought to bear 
the infirmities of the weak." Rom. xv. 1. Here 
are two plain commands : the first, not to bear 
with sins ; and the second, to bear with infirmities ; 

3 

and this difference is discoverable to others, and 
certainly much more to ourselves. 

4. St. Paul will hardly be supposed to glory in 
his sins, yet he writes : " Most gladly, therefore, 
will I glory in mine infirmities." 2 Cor. xii. 9. 

5. A pious man will hardly indulge the blas- 
phemous thought that the Holy Spirit helps our 
sins ; yet it is written that " The Spirit also help- 
eth our infirmities." Rom. viii. 26. 

6. According to this showing, was not our Sav- 
iour himself a sinner ? Eor had he not his inno- 
cent infirmities too ? Did he not shudder at the 
prospect of the cup of trembling ? Needed he not 
the " strengthening support of an angel in the gar- 
den of Gethsemane ?" Did he not offer up prayers, 
with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was 
able to save him from death ? Was he not heard 
in that he feared ? Heb. v. 7. Did he not inno- 
cently cry out upon the cross, "My God! my 
God! why hast thou forsaken me?" When, 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 37 

therefore, our opponents confound sin with natural, 
innocent infirmities, do they not fix a blot upon 
the immaculate character of Him who could say, 
" Which of you convinceth me of sin ?" 

Having, by these arguments, demonstrated that 
there is a real difference between sins and infirmi- 
ties ; as it is a matter of importance, we will next 
point out that difference. It is plainly fixed by 
those great " commandments on which hang all the 
law and the prophets." Whatever is actuated by 
love to Grod cannot be sinful, for "love is the ful- 
filling of the law." Whatever is contrary to the 
universal love required by" the law is manifestly 
sinful. An infirmity considering it with the 
errors which it occasions is consistent with pure 
love to God and man; but a sin is inconsistent 
with that love. An infirmity is free from guile, 
and has its root in the physical or intellectual part 
of our nature ; but sin is attended with guile, and 
has its root in the moral part springing either 
from the habitual corruption of our hearts, or from 
the momentary perversion of our tempers. An 
infirmity unavoidably results from our unhappy 
circumstances, and from the necessary infelicities 
of our present state; but a sin flows from the 
avoidable and perverse choice of our own will. 
An infirmity has its foundation in an involuntary 
want of power ; and a sin, in the wilful abuse of 


38 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

the present light and power tha,t we have. The 
one arises from involuntary ignorance and weak- 
ness, and is always attended with a good mean- 
ing a meaning nmnixed with any bad design or 
wicked prejudice ; but the other has its source in 
voluntary perverseness and presumption, and is 
always attended by a meaning altogether bad ; or, 
at least, by a good meaning founded on wicked 
prejudices. 

[That there may be no room for mistake, we 
enter into a. more minute consideration of this im- 
portant question. 

III. The opposers of this doctrine have imagined 
that our Heavenly Father requires of us an amount, 
if not a kind, of obedience incommensurate with 
our capacities. But we contend, not for the 
amount of obedience which we might have ren- 
dered if our nature had never fallen this, truly, 
were impossible but for the full obedience of our 
present powers; as the Lord spake by Moses, 
Deut. x. 12 : "And now, Israel, what doth the 
Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord 
thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to serve the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart and .with all thy 
soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and 
his statutes which I command thee this day for 
thy good ?" that is, most evidently, with all thy 
soul as it is at present, with all thy present powers, 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 39 

however heretofore enfeebled by any cause ; and 
not with such powers as thou hast not, but might- 
e$t have had, if thou hadst never sinned.] But 
further. Does not St. Paul's rule hold good in 
spirituals as well as in temporals : " It is accepted 
according to what a man hath, and not according 
to what a man hath not." Does our Lord really 
require more of believers than they can actually 
do through his grace ? "Would it not be far less 
absurd to say that the legislative power of the 
State makes laws which no citizen can possibly 
keep ? And St.. James assures us that Christ's 
law of liberty is that by which we shall stand or 
fall in the judgment : " So speak ye, and so do, as 
they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." 
And when his followers observe it to the best of 
their ability, does he not see some perfection in 
their works, insignificant as they may be ? " Re- 
move this immense heap of stones," says an indul- 
gent father to his children, "and be diligent 
according to your strength." While the eldest, a 
strong man, removes rocks, the youngest, a little 
child, is as cheerfully busy as the rest, in carrying 
sand and pebbles. Now, may not this childlike 
obedisnce be as perfect in its degree, and conse- 
quently as acceptable to his parents, -as the manly 
obedience of the elder brother ? Nay, though he 
does next to nothing, may not his endeavors, if 


40 CHIIISTIAN PERFECTION. 

they are more cordial, excite a smile of superior 
approbation from his loving father, who looks at 
the disposition of the heart more than at the ap- 
pearance of the work? And was it not according 
to this rule of perfection that Christ testified that 
the poor widow, who had given but two mites, 
had, nevertheless, cast more into the treasury than 
all the rich, though they had cast in much ? be- 
cause, our Lord himself beicg judge, she had given 
all that she had. Nor could she give, nor did God 
require, more than her all. And when she thus 
heartily gave her all, did she not do a perfect 
work ? 

2. But again. This confounding of sin with 
incapacity to do all we wish, includes the separate 
" spirits of just men made perfect;" also angels- and 
the archangel. For which one of them would not 
praise and serve God more perfectly- than they are 
able to do with their limited powers ? Do not 
those spirits cry unto God from beneath the altar, 
for the "avenging of the blood of the martyrs," 
and for persecutions to cease ? And though they 
have pleaded night and day for ages, have they 
yet fully prevailed ? Do the " ministering spirits 
sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation" do 
all the good to those under their charge that they 
desire ? 

3. Is not our Lord himself included in this same 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 41 

condemnation ? Did he, as a man, do all the good 
he would, while he was upon the earth ? Did he 
preach as successfully as his perfect love made him 
desire ? If he had all the success that he desired 
in the ministry, why did he "look around upon his 
hearers with anger, being grieved for the hardness 
of their hearts ?" "Why did he weep and complain : 
"How oft would I have gathered you, but ye 
would not !" Were even his private instructions 
so much blessed to his own disciples as he could 
have wished? If they were, what meant those 
strange expostulations : " How is it that ye have 
no faith ? Faithless generation ! how long shall I 
bear with you ? Hast thou been so long time 
with me, Philip, and yet, hast not known me ? 
Will ye also go away ?" 

IV. [Inadvertencies in conduct, which proceed 
from errors of judgment, have also been classed 
among sins.] But does a well-meant mistake defile 
the conscience ? If I treat a sincere follower of 
Christ with unbecoming coldness, and address to 
him such language as is suitable only to the im- 
penitent, under the persuasion that he is a wicked 
opposer of the gospel, I have certainly erred in 
judgment, and in conduct as much ; but wherein 
have I sinned? You inadvertently encourage 
idleness and drunkenness by giving to an idle, 
drunken beggar who imposes upon your charity by 


42 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

plausible lies : is this loving error a sin ? A blun- 
dering apothecary sends you arsenic for calomel; 
you use it as calomel, and poison your child ; but 
are you a murderer, if you give the fatal dose in 
love ? Suppose the tempter had secretly mixed 
some of the forbidden fruit with other fruits that 
Eve had lawfully gathered for use : would she have 
sinned if she had inadvertently eaten of it, and 
given a share to her husband? Did not Christ 
himself incidentally stir up the evil he would not, 
when he gave occasion to the envy and blasphemy 
of the Pharisees, the scorn of Herod, and the rage 
of the Jewish mob? If, then, the supposition 
which we controvert be true, was he not also a 
sinner ? 

[Such things are, indeed, evidences of the 
imperfection of our physical and intellectual 
powers, but not, that we can see, of the moral 
faculties. 

. Light is thrown upon this subject by the follow- 
ing quotation: 

" In a deliberate action, four distinct elements 
may be commonly observed. These are 

" 1. The outward act. 

" 2. The conception of the act, of which the 
external act is the mere bodying forth. 

" 3. The resolution to cany that conception into 
effect. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 43 

" 4. The intention or design with which all this 
is done. 

" Now, the moral quality does not "belong to the 
external act ; for the same external act may be 
performed by two men, while its moral character 
is, in the two cases, entirely dissimilar. 

"Nor does it belong to the conception of the 
external act, nor to the resolution to carry that 
conception into effect; for the resolution to per- 
form an action can have no other character than 
that of the action itself. 

" It must, then, reside in the intention." Way- 
land's Moral Science, Sec. III., p. 30/j 

"We go still farther, and ask : May not a man 
hold many right opinions, and be a perfect lover 
of the world ? And, by parity of reason, may not 
a.man hold many wrong opinions, and be a perfect 
lover of Grod ? Is it not even possible that a man 
whose heart is renewed in love, may, through a 
mistaken humility, or through weakness of under- 
standing, oppose the name of Christian perfection, 
when he desires and perhaps enjoys the thing ? 

V. [The natural susceptibilities of our being 
have been supposed to be, of themselves, sinful; 
and no wonder that men, under such a persuasion, 
should believe it impossible to be freed from sin in 
this life, seeing that to part with these were to 
part with our nature, with our very existence. 


44 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

No one, we presume, will go so far as to assert 
that new powers, passions, and appetites were 
given to man at or after the fall, or that original 
ones were destroyed. Their exercise, while man 
was in a state of innocence, could not have been 
sinful ; and it would, we opine, be very difficult to 
show that what was sinless then must Tbe sinful 
now. There is evidently a limit within which the 
exercise of each of them is wholly right. To. as- 
sert the contrary is to charge God with making 
intelligent beings, and endowing them with such 
faculties as that, in their legitimate exercise, his 
law must, of necessity, be violated. Might not 
Adam have been angry at Eve when she had vio- 
lated the law herself, and was urging him to do 
so, and yet have been blameless ? And why may 
we not be indignant or angry at sin, as our Saviour 
was, when we see the law of the Lord trampled 
under foot by those around us, and still commit no 
sin ? May we not 

" Hate the sin with all the heart, 
But still the sinner love ?" 

v 

Again. While we grant that it is wrong to 
eat what belongs to another against his consent, 
it certainly cannot be wrong to eat enough of that 
which belongs to ourselves to supply the temper- 
ate wants of our physical frame. And so the 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 45 

gratification of all the emotions and appetites of 
our being, within the proper bounds, is equally 
unblamable.] 

If, as has been contended, " the natural desires, 
appetites, and aversions, which are necessarily 
excited in the soul, in consequence of its intimate 
union with the body," be sinful, was not our Lord 
himself sinful ? Do we not read of his sleeping in 
the ship, while his disciples wrestled with a tem- 
pestuous sea ? Was he not weary at Jacob's well ; 
hungry in the wilderness ; thirsty upon the cross ? 
Did not his holy flesh testify a natural, innocent 
abhorrence to suffering ? Did not his sacred body 
faint in the garden ? Were not his spirits so de- 
pressed that he stood in need of the strengthening 
assistance of an angel? And in his prayer in 
Gethsemane, did he not manifest a resigned desire 
to escape from pain and shame ? Finally, did he 
not fulfil the precept, " Be ye angry, and sin not ?" 
If he "was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and 
was tempted in all points like as we are," is it not 
highly probable that he was not an utter stranger 
to the other natural appetites and uneasy sensa- 
tions which are incident to flesh and blood ? Is it 
a sin to feel them ? [Is it not rather a virtue to- 
tally to deny them, or not gratify them out of the 
line of duty, or not to indulge them excessively in 
that line?] If every such desire be indwelling 


46 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

sin, or the "flesh sinfully lusting against the 
spirit," did he not go through the sinful conflict, 
as well as those whom we call perfect men in 
Christ ? To what absurd conclusions does error 
conduct us ! 

VI. [Finally. It is not sinful to be tempted ; 
for our Saviour was " tempted in all points, like as 
we are, yet without sin." 

All ought to know at what exact point, under 
temptation, we begin to sin ; as no Christian sins 
except under such influence. 

Temptation is enticement to sin by the presen- 
tation of some desirable object that is forbidden. 
If there be nothing desirable in the object, it can- 
not tempt. A rough stone lying on the ground 
amidst a profusion of such objects, cannot be to 
me a source of temptation, as I perceive nothing 
about it calculated to excite nay desire. On the 
contrary, it may be an object of temptation, if 
found to be rich in gold quartz ; for then there is 
something about it to rouse the susceptibilities of 
niy nature. But if fully assured that no one has 
a better right to it than I, there can be no tempta- 
tion since the desire to possess, it is not, in this 
case, inhibited. 

Our primeval parents must certainly have per- 
ceived that the forbidden fruit was not only "plea- 
sant to the eyes, but good for food, and to be 


CHRISTIAN PEKTECTION. 47 

desired to make one wise ;" or they would not 
even have been tempted to " take of the fruit and 
eat." But if, wjien they first saw that there was 
something in that forbidden object so well calcu- 
lated to excite pleasure and to arouse desire, they 
had at once fled from the scene of temptation,, and 
called upon Grod for assistance, who imagines that 
they would have felt the desire actually arising in 
their souls, and thereby have forfeited their origi- 
nal perfection ? 

The rising of desire to do what is wrong, or 
the indulgence of such thoughts as we know tend 
to excite desire of forbidden things, is the exact 
point where sin begins ; and not the thought of 
sin, "such thought being also in the mind of 
Grod ;" nor the consciousness that what is prohib- 
ited might gratify some of the pressing demands 
of our nature, and hence be eminently desira- 
ble, if there were nothing wrong in its appro- 
priation.] 

It is imagined that upon our principles the 
grace of an adult Christian is like the body of an 
adult man, which can grow no more. But this 
consequence flows from their fancy, and not from 
our doctrine. We exhort the strongest believers 
to " grow up into Christ in all things ;" asserting 
that there is no holiness and no happiness in hea- 
ven much less upon earth which does not admit 


48 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

of growth, except the holiness and happiness of 
God himself; because, in the very nature of things, 
a Being absolutely perfect and v in every sense 
infinite can never have any thing added to him. 
But infinite additions may be made to beings 
every way finite, such as glorified saints and holy 
angels are. 

Hence it appears that the comparison which we 
make between the ripeness of fruit and the matu- 
rity of a believer's grace cannot be carried into an 
exact parallel, [but is, in this respect, more like 
the tree. From, the time the seed begins to ger- 
minate, the tree is in an imperfect state, until it 
begins to bear fruit. It is then a perfect tree, 
perfectly developing all its powers ; yet, in many 
instances, it has but begun to grow for it after- 
wards spreads even more rapidly than at any pre- 
vious time, " bringing forth its fruit in its season."] 
Thus a perfect Christian grows far more than a 
feeble believer, whose growth is still obstructed by 
the shady thorns of sin, and by the draining suck- 
ers of iniquity. The babe in Christ is called to 
grow till he becomes a perfect Christian ; a perfect 
Christian, till he becomes a disembodied saint ; a 
disembodied saint, till he reaches the perfection of 
a saint glorified in body and soul ; and such a 
saint, till he has fathomed the infinite depths of 
Divine perfection, that is, to all eternity. For if 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 49 

we go on from faith to faith, and are spiritually 
" changed from glory to glory," by beholding God 
"darkly through a glass" on earth, much more 
shall we experience improving changes, when we 
shall " see him as he is," and behold him face to 
face, in various, numberless, and still brighter dis- 
coveries of himself in heaven. 


50 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


CHAPTER III. 

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

THE misapprehension of those pious persons who 
deny the doctrine of Christian perfection, fre- 
quently springs from their inattention to its nature. 
To prove it, we have need only to oppose our de- 
finition of Christian perfection to the objections 
that are commonly raised against it. "* 

I. "Your doctrine of perfection leads to pride." 
Impossible ! if Christian perfection is perfect 
humility. 

II. " It exalts believers, but only to the state 
of the vain-glorious Pharisee." Impossible! If 
our perfection is " perfect humility," it makes us 
sink deeper into the state of the humble, justified 
publican. 

III. "It fills men with conceit of their own 
excellence, and makes them say to a weak brother, 
' Stand by : I am holier than thou.' " Impossible 
again ! We do not preach Pharisaic, but Christian 

. perfection, which consists of perfect "poverty of 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 51 

spirit," and of that perfect charity which " vaunt- 
eth not itself, is not puifed up, honors all men, and 
bears with the infirmities of the weak." 

IV. "It sets repentance aside." Impossible! 
Tor it is " perfect repentance." 

V. " It will make us slight Christ." More and 
more improbable! How can "perfect faith in 
Christ" make us slight Christ ? Could it be more 
absurd to say that the perfect love of God would 
make us despise God ? 

VI. " It will supersede the use of mortification 
and watchfulness ; for if sin be dead, what need 
have we to mortify it, and to watch against it ?" 

The objection has some plausibility; it shall, 
therefore, be answered in various ways. 1. If 
Adam, in his state of Paradisiacal perfection, 
needed perfect watchfulness and perfect mortifica- 
tion, how much more do we, who find the " tree 
of the knowledge of good and evil" planted, not 
only in our gardens, but in our houses, and mar- 
kets, and churches ? 2. When we are delivered 
from sin, are we delivered from peccability and 
temptation ? When the inward man of sin is put 
to death, is the devil dead ? Is the corruption 
that is in the world destroyed ? And have we not 
still our appetites and our five senses to " keep 
with all diligence," as well as our hearts, that the 
tempter may not enter into us, or that we may not 


52 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

enter into his temptations? 3, and last. Jesus 
Christ, as son of Mary, was a perfect man. But 
how was he kept so unto the end ? Was it not 
by "keeping his mouth with a bridle while the 
ungodly were in his sight," and by guarding all 
his senses with perfect assiduity, that the wicked 
one might not touch them to his hurt? And if 
Christ, our Head, kept his human perfection only 
through watchfulness and constant self-denial, is it 
not absurd to suppose that his perfect members 
can keep their perfection without treading in his 
steps ? 

VII. Another objection which has been urged 
runs thus : " Your doctrine of perfection makes it 
needless for perfect Christians to say the Lord's 
prayer; for if God ' vouchsafes to keep us this 
day without sin,' we have no need to pray at night 
that he would i forgive us our trespasses, as we 
forgive those who trespass against us.' " 

We answer, 1. [It is evident, from the remark 
of our Saviour at the close of this prayer, that one 
of the conditions of our forgiveness is that we for- 
give others. It is equally evident from the para- 
ble of the debtor, Matt, xviii. 2335, especially 
from its conclusion, that when we cease to forgive, 
our own pardon is cancelled : " 0, thou wicked 
servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou 
desiredst me : shouldst not thou also have had com- 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 53 

t> 

passion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity 
on thee ? And his lord was wroth, and delivered 
him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that 
was due unto him. So likewise shall my Heavenly 
Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts 
forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." 
It is equally evident, from the whole burden of the 
gospel, that the main condition of our forgiveness, 
without which we cannot maintain that relation to 
our Heavenly Father in which alone we receive 
remission of sins, is exercise of faith in Christ; 
that is, our present pardon depends upon the pre- 
sent exercise of faith and of a forgiving spirit 
toward our enemies, or those who may have injured 
us. If, then, we are liable to forfeit our pardon 
by failing to forgive others, or by ceasing to exer- 
cise energetic faith, how stupidly regardless of 
his best interests must be the man, however per- 
fect, who does not continually pray, " Forgive us 
our trespasses" in other words, " Enable us so to 
live as not to violate the conditions by which we 
maintain the relation of pardoned sinners." More 
especially should we thus the more diligently pray, 
since reason, Scripture, and observation, if not ex- 
perience, concur in teaching that not a few, by 
faltering in faith and indulging malicious feelings, 
forfeit the relation which they had sustained to 


54 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

Gfod through Christ, in which they experienced 
remission of sins. 

2. We all await the sentence of that final day 
when we shall he judged hy the deeds " done in 
the body/' nor until then shall our final justifica- 
tion he complete; and in view of our numerous 
infirmities and numberless inabilities which yet 
imply no lack of love it highly behooves us to 
pray continually, " Forgive us our trespasses." 

3. At that day, the results of our actions and 
principles and neglects will be taken into the 
account : 0, then, with what an emphasis need we 
pray daily, " Forgive us !" hold us not to a strict 
account for the results of all our failures, and in- 
firmities, and ignorance. 

4. Each repetition of this prayer, while it tends 
to humble, cultivates in us a forgiving spirit.] 

5. It fosters feelings of benevolence for the 
souls of all men, especially for those nearest to us. 
And, impelled by this benevolence, none is more 
fervent than the perfect man in presenting the 
petition in behalf of others as well as himself, 
"Forgive us our trespasses" thus melting him- 
self, as it were, into the common mass of mankind. 
He prays with more than ordinary emphasis that 

" The arms of love that compass me 
May all mankind embrace." 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 55 

VIII. Another plausible objection runs thus : 
" It is plain from your account of Christian per- 
fection that adult believers are free from sin, their 
hearts being purified by perfect faith and filled 
with perfect love. Now, sin is that which hum- 
bles us, and drives us to Christ; if, therefore, we 
were free from indwelling sin, we should lose a 
most powerful incentive to humility, which is the 
greatest ornament of the Christian." 

We answer : Sin never humbled any soul. "Who 
has more sin than Satan ? and who is prouder ? 
Did sin make our first parents humble ? Who was 
more humble than Christ ? But was he indebted 
to sin for his humility ? Do we not see daily that 
the more sinful men are, the prouder they are ? 
that the holier a believer is, the more humble is 
he? What is holiness but the reverse of sin? 
and what is humility but one of the main ingre- 
dients of holiness ? How absurd, then, is it to 
say that sin will made us humble, and, therefore, 
holy ! As well might we affirm that stealing will 
make us honest, or lying make us truthful. What 
is inbred pride but one of the chief ingredients of 
indwelling sin, if it is not the thing itself? And 
how can pride be productive of humility ? Can a 
serpent beget a dove ? And will not men gather 
grapes of thorns sooner than humility of heart from 
haughtiness of spirit ? Do we not see sin enough 


56 CHRISTIANPERFECTION. 

in our past lives to humble us in the dust for ever ? 
But above all, where does the gospel plead for the 
continuance of sin in our hearts, for this or any 
other purpose ? To look at Christ in the manger, 
in Gethseinane, and on the cross ; to consider him. 
when he washes his disciples' feet ; and obediently 
to listen to him when he says, " Learn of me to be 
meek and lowly in heart" is not this the evan- 
gelical "method of getting more humility ? 

The following plausible sophism has had much 
influence in deceiving many into this strange mis- 
take : When believers are humbled for a thing, 
they are humbled ty it : believers are humbled for 
sin, therefore they are humbled ty sin. Now we 
readily grant that penitents are humbled for sin ; 
or, in other terms, that they humbly repent of 
sin ; but we deny that they are humbled by sin. 
To show the absurdity of this whole argument, it 
is only necessary to produce an exact parallel: 
When people are bled for a thing, they are bled 
~by it ; but people are sometimes bled for a cold, 
therefore people are sometimes bled ty a cold. 

IX. "We do not assert that all perfection is 
imaginary. Our meaning is that all Christian per- 
fection is in Christ that we are perfect in his 
person, and not in our own." 

Answer. If by being perfect only in Christ is 
meant that we can attain to Christian perfection 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 57 

in no other way than by being perfectly grafted in 
him, the true vine, and by deriving, like vigorous 
branches, the perfect sa,p of his perfect righteous- 
ness to enable us to bring forth fruit unto perfec- 
tion, we are perfectly agreed ; for we perpetually 
assert that nothing but " Christ in us the hope of 
glory," nothing but " Christ dwelling in our hearts 
by faith," or, which is all one, nothing but the 
"law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, can 
make ns free from the law of sin and death," and 
" perfect us in love." 

But as we never advanced that Christian per- 
fection is held any other way than by faith that 
" roots and grounds" us in Christ, we suspect that 
some hidden error lurks under these equivocal 
phrases : "AH our perfection is in Christ's person ; 
we are perfect in him, and not in ourselves." 

If it is insinuated by such language that we 
need not, cannot be perfect by an inherent per- 
sonal conformity to Grod's holiness, because Christ 
is thus perfect for us ; or should it be meant that 
we are perfect in him, just as the sick in a hospital 
are perfectly healthy in the physician who gives 
them his attendance as the filthy leper was per- 
fectly clean in the Lord, before he had felt the power 
of Christ's gracious words, " I will, be thou clean ;" 
or as hungry Lazarus was perfectly fed in the per- 
son of the rich man at whose gate he lay starving 


58 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

if this be the meaning, we are in conscience bound 
to oppose it, for the following reasons : 

1. If believers are perfect because Christ is 
perfect for them, why does the apostle exhort 
them to " go on to perfection ?" 

2. If believers were perfect in Christ, they 
would all be equally perfect. But does not St. 
John talk of some who are perfected, and of others 
who are not yet " made perfect in love ?" 

3. The apostle exhorts us to be "perfect in 
every good work ;" and does not common sense 
dictate that there is a difference between our good 
works and the person of Christ ? 

4. Does not our Lord himself show that his 
personal righteousness will by no means be ac- 
cepted instead of our personal perfection, where he 
says : " Every branch in me which beareth not 
fruit" or whose fruit never conies to perfection ; 
see Luke viii. 14 " my Father taketh it away ;" 
far from imputing to it his perfect fruitfulness ? 

5. A believer's perfection consists in such a high 
degree of " faith as works by perfect love." And 
does not this high degree of faith chiefly imply 
uninterrupted self-diffidence, self-denial, self-de- 
spair ? a heartfelt, ceaseless recourse to the blood, 
merits, and righteousness of Christ ? and grateful 
love to him " because he first loved us," and fer- 
vent charity toward all mankind for his sake? 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 59 

Three things which, in the very nature of things, 
cannot he in Christ at all, or cannot possibly he in 
him in the same manner in which they must he in 
believers. 

6. Is not this doctrine big with mischief? May 
not the impenitent sinner persuade himself to con- 
tinue in sin, or the penitent Christian to return to 
it, by the persuasion that Christ's perfection is 
imputed to him, and he, consequently, does not 
need intrinsic purity in himself? [Nay, have we 
not many melancholy instances of it throughout 
the land ? and can any doctrine decidedly mis- 
chievous in its tendencies originate with God?] 
But in this, do we not see a direct tendency to set 
godliness aside, and to countenance gross Antino- 
mianism ? 

7. ' Who can read the words of Christ, and not 
perceive that the perfection which he preached 
was a perfection of holy dispositions, productive 
of holy actions in all his followers ? and that it is, 
of consequence, a personal perfection, as much in- 
herent in us, and yet as much derived from him 
and dependent upon him, as the perfection of our 
bodily health ? the chief difference consisting in 
this, that the perfection of our health comes to us 
from God in Christ, as the God of nature; whereas, 
our Christian perfection comes to us from God in 
Christ, as the God of grace. 


60 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

8. [The doctrine of our being perfect in Christ, 
in the sense which we controvert, is the offspring 
of the doctrine of the imputed righteousness of 
Christ, and is held in common with it. They con- 
sequently stand or fall together. They are both 
based upon the false assumption that the righteous- 
ness or perfection of Christ's life is the meritorious, 
procuring cause of our salvation an assumption 
which is repugnant alike to reason and Scripture. 
The teaching of Scripture is, that "we have re- 
demption through his Uood" "redeemed by the 
precious blood of Christ ;" and nowhere is it stated 
that the righteousness of his life is, in any sense, 
the righteousness of ours, certainly not as the pro- 
curing cause. The teaching of reason is, that if 
the righteousness of Christ's life were imputed to 
us as our righteousness, there could be no end to 
the extent of such imputation, as he is infinite ; 
therefore, as an irresistible sequence, there could 
be no necessity for his death. Again : Revela- 
tion demands of us to " be holy," to " cleanse our- 
selves from, all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and 
perfect holiness;" and not to expect Him. "whose 
eyes are too pure to look upon sin," to look on us, 
while influenced by unhallowed tempers, as per- 
fectly holy because Christ was holy; while rea- 
son declares that the analogy and fitness of such 
a scheme is not discoverable by any light which 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 61 

she can supply; and, moreover, that it is practi- 
cally fraught with much mischief to the best inter- 
ests of religion.] 

9. Imputed obedience rests upon the same foot- 
ing, and stands or falls by the same arguments. 
Besides those mentioned, we add the following : 
(1.) The law speaks often of vicarious suffering, 
but never of vicarious love or obedience. (2.) If 
we obey by proxy, we may sin as much as we 
please; for it is plain that if the obedience of 
another be accepted in lieu of our own, while we 
continue to indulge in a slight degree of sin, it may 
be thus accepted if we indulge a little more, and 
so on, until we have reached the depths of trans- 
gression. 


62 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


CHAPTER IV. 

ANSWERS TO THE ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF THE NECES- 
SARY CONTINUANCE OF INDWELLING SIN. 

THE objections that have been urged against the 
doctrine of Christian perfection having been con- 
sidered, we turn to an examination of those argu- 
ments by which the necessary continuance of 
indwelling sin in us till death is contended for. 

I. " Indwelling sin is necessary to exercise our 
patience and industry." 

Our Lord was perfectly free from indwelling 
sin, yet we do not see that his patience and indus- 
try wanted proper exercise; and we apprehend 
that the patience and industry of the most perfect 
believer will always, without the opposition of in- 
dwelling sin, find full exercise in doing and suifering 
the whole will of God ; in striving against the sins 
of others, endeavoring, by example and precept, to 
bring them to Christ ; in building up the Church ; 
in keeping his own body under ; in resisting the 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 63 

numberless temptations that beset him ; and in 
preparing for the final conflict with the king of 
terrors. 

II. " By the contests of the Spirit of grace within 
us with the powers of indwelling sin, the Lord 
magnifies himself to his people, and the continuance 
of it is a means by which believers have such 
views of the perfections and glory of Grod as they 
could not here obtain without it. It magnifies the 
power and patience of Grod : the power of Grod to 
support us under this conflict ; and his patience in 
bearing with our manifold weakness and ingrati- 
tude. Those believers who are most sensible of 
the power and prevalency of indwelling sin, are 
most thankful that the endearing relations of Grod's 
distinguishing love are true." 

Unmask this plausible argument of its rhetoric, 
and you will find it to be this insinuating viper 
smooth, yet poisonous " The longer we continue 
in sin, or the longer sin continues in us, the more 
is grace manifested and magnified in us ;" or, if you 
will speak as the apostolic controversialist, " Let 
us continue in sin that grace may abound.'* A 
notion, this, which is the very soul of Antinomian- 
ism unmasked. Again. If the continuance of in- 
dwelling sin magnifies Grod's grace and patience in 
saving ungrateful sinners, the continuance of out- 
ward sin will do this much more ; so that the more 


64 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

we sin on earth, the louder will we sing in heaven. 
[This is too absurd to argue against longer.] 

III. " Indwelling sin is necessary to remain in 
the hearts of the regenerate, that they may see 
( what an evil and bitter thing' is ^sin, in order that 
we may feel becoming shame and sorrow on ac- 
count of it." 

1. Does sin make us ashamed of sin? does it 
not rather make us love it ? Does not experience 
convince imperfect believers that the more fretful- 
ness, self-will, and obstinacy they have in their 
hearts, the less do they repent ? How absurd is 
it, then, to suppose that the remains of these evil 
dispositions will help them to feel "becoming 
shame and sorrow" for sin I 

2. Do we not get more becoming shame and 
sorrow by looking one moment at " Him whom we 
have pierced," than by poring over our corruptions 
for an hour ? If so, why plead for indwelling sin 
for this purpose ? Who exalt Christ more, they, 
or we who maintain that our most becoming shame 
and deepest sorrow flow from his ignominy and 
sufferings, and not from indwelling sin and con- 
flicting corruptions ? Did not Job " abhor himself 
and repent in dust and ashes," when he saw his 
redeeming Glod by faith, much more than when he 
just kept his head above the waters of impatience 
and murmuring ? 


CHRISTIAN PEEFECTION. 65 

3. If the penitent thief properly learned in a 
few hours what an evil and bitter thing internal 
and external sin is, is it not absurd to suppose that 
he must have continued forty years full of indwell- 
ing sin to learn that lesson, if Grod had added forty 
years to his life ? "Would this delay have been to 
the honor of his Divine Teacher ? 

4. Who had ever less to do with indwelling si..i 
and its cursed attacks than the holy Jesus and 
faithful angels ? Yet who is more filled with per- 
fect abhorrence of all iniquity? On the other 
hand, who has been more distracted and longer 
torn by indwelling sin than the devil ? And who, 
nevertheless, is better reconciled to it ? Or who 
is more plagued by the continual rendings and 
bitings of the lions and vipers within, than those 
passionate, revengeful people who say, with all the 
positiveness of Jonah and Absalom, " I do well to 
be angry, and revenge is sweet?" Experience, 
therefore, demonstrates the inconclusiveness of this 
argument. 

5. Last. When Christ cast seven devils out of 
Mary Magdalene, did he leave one or two devils 
behind, to teach her " becoming shame and sorrow 
for sin?" And was it these two remaining 
" Diabolonians" that made her dissolve in tears at 
Christ's feet ? or was it the grateful, penitential 
love which she felt for her gracious deliverer ? Is 


8 


66 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

it not astonishing that a false theory should lead 
gospel ministers to so far forget themselves and 
their Saviour as to teach, as openly as for decency 
they dare, that the fanning breath of the Spirit, 
the oil of Messiah's grace, and the hallowed snuff- 
ers of the sanctuary, cannot make the candle of 
the Lord within his spiritual temples "burn contin- 
ually clear, unless we use, to the end of our life, 
the foul finger of Satan, indwelling sin, and Adam's 
accursed extinguisher, original corruption ! 

IV. " It is meet that we should be punished by 
the continuance of indwelling sin, for the unfaith- 
fulness and slothfulness that have caused our de- 
partures from duty." 

To this we answer, 1. That although believers 
frequently give place to sloth and unfaithfulness, 
yet they are not at all necessitated to do it. 

2. If the constant indwelling of sin be a just 
punishment for not making a proper use of the 
talent of grace which God gives us, it evidently 
follows that our unfaithfulness, and not a necessity 
appointed by Grod, is the very worm that destroys 
our sinless perfection ; and the moment our oppo- 
nents grant this, they allow all that we contend 
for, unless they should be able to prove that Grod 
necessitates us to be unfaithful, in order to punish 
us infallibly with indwelling sin for life. . 

V. " The contests kept up in believers by in- 


CH-EISTIAN PERFECTION. 67 

dwelling sin, furnish occasion to discover the 
strength of grace, as well as to distinguish it 
from its counterfeits." 

This argument reminds me of a speech which a 
shameless young debauchee once made to me. " I 
kept," said he, " drinking and dozing in such a tav- 
ern, without ever going to bed, ever being sober 
one hour, for twenty-three days. I never had so 
remarkable an occasion to discover the strength of 
my body and the excellence of my constitution." 
However, in a few months, while he continued in 
the condition to discover the strength of his con- 
stitution, a mortal disorder seized upon him, and 
removed him. into eternity. "We hope that the fol- 
lowing considerations will make the supporters of 
this argument heartily ashamed of it : 

1. Nothing ever showed more fully the reality 
and strength of grace than the conflicts which the 
man Christ Jesus went through, though he never 
conflicted a moment with indwelling sin. 

2. The strength and excellence of a remedy is 
much better discovered by the removal of the dis- 
order which it is designed to cure, than by the 
conflicts which the poor patient has with pain, 
till death comes to terminate his misery. And, 

3. The argument here considered represents 
Christ as a physician who keeps his patients upon, 
the rack, to render himself the more necessary 


68 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

to them, and to show the strength of the anodyne 
mixture by which he gives them, now and then, a 
little ease under their continued pain. 

YI. " By means of the continued struggle be- 
tween indwelling sin and grace, the Lord wins his 
people from the present evil world, and makes 
them long for the land of promise, as for the land 
of rest ; that is, he can and does make the presence 
of evil so irksome to the believer that it makes 
him ardently long for complete deliverance from it." 

That is, in plain English, he keeps his patients 
so long upon the rack of their indwelling sin, that 
at last they are forced to long for death, the great 
cleanser from heart iniquity. This argument 
would have been complete if it had been support- 
ed by these two passages : " I do well to be angry 
even unto death." " In those days men plagued 
by the locusts which ascend out of the bottomless 
pit shall desire to die, and death shall flee from 
them." But the following remark or two will 
show more clearly the absurdity of this argument : 

1. Did not Christ long for heaven without in- 
dwelling sin ? Do not holy believers, who are 
freest from indwelling sin, long most for the bea- 
tific vision? And do we not see that fallen be- 
lievers, who are most filled with indwelling sin, 
are most apt to be lovers of sin and the world, " ra- 
ther than lovers of God ?" Are they not the very 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 69 

people who, unmindful of Lot's wife, stay in the 
plain, instead of escaping for their life, and fleeing 
to the celestial mount of God, without ever looking 
behind them ? How absurd, then, is it to prop up 
the throne of indwelling sin in the hearts of be- 
lievers, that its tyrannic law may make them long 
for heaven ! 

2. Is not indwelling sin a clog, rather than a 
spur, to the heavenly racers ? If sin be of such 
service to us to make us run the career of holy 
longing after the heavenly rest, why does the 
apostle exhort us to " lay aside every weight, and 
the sin that doth so easily beset us ?" If we want 
a spur to make us mend our pace, need we the 
spur of indwelling sin ? Is it not more likely to 
spur us to hell than to heaven ? If we have thou- 
sands of sinless spurs, what need have we of 
keeping that to drive us to heaven which drove 
Adam behind the trees of the garden, not to say 
out of his native Paradise ? 

VII. The last argument which we have to con- 
sider is from the illustrious commentator, the Rev. 
Matthew Henry. " Corruption," says he, " is left 
remaining in the hearts of good Christians, that 
they may learn war, keep on the whole armor of 
God, and stand continually on their guard." " Thus 
corruption is driven out of the hearts of believers 


70 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

by little and little. The work of sanctification will 
be carried on gradually, but judgment will, at 
length, be brought forth to victory :" namely, when 
death shall coine to the assistance of the atoning 
blood and of the Spirit's power. That this is Mr. 
Henry's doctrine, I infer from his comment on 
Gal. v. 17 : " In a renewed man, where there is 
something of a good principle, there is a struggle 
between the remainders of sin and the beginnings 
of grace ; and this, Christians must expect, will be 
their exercise as long as they continue in this 
world ;" or, to speak more intelligibly, till they go 
into the death-purgatory. 

Besides this passage, he builds this uncomforta- 
ble doctrine upon Deut. vii. 22 : " The Lord thy 
God will put out those nations before thee, little 
by little ; thou mayest not consume them at once, 
lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee." 
And he gives us to understand that " pride and 
security and other sins" are "the enemies more 
dangerous than the beasts of the field that would 
be apt to increase" upon us if God should deliver 
us from indwelling sin, i. e., from the remains of 
pride and carnal security, and other sins. This 
exposition is backed by an appeal to the following 
text : " Now these are the nations that the Lord 
left to prove Israel by them, to know whether 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 71 

they the Israelites would hearken to the com- 
mandments of the Lord." Judges iii. 1-4. See 
Mr. Henry's exposition of these passages. 
To this grand argument we answer, 

1. That it is absurd to build the mighty doc- 
trine of a death-purgatory upon an historical allu- 
sion. If such allusions were proofs, we could 
easily multiply our arguments. We could say 
that sin is to be utterly destroyed, because Moses 
says : " The Lord delivered into our hands Og and 
all his people, and we smote him, until none was 
left unto him remaining." Deut. iii. 3. Because 
Saul was commanded "utterly to destroy the 
sinners, the Amalekites," and lost his crown for 
sparing their king. . 1 Sam. xv. And a number of 
other such proofs. But we should blush to build 
the doctrine of Christian perfection upon so absurd 
and slender a foundation. Yet such a foundation 
would be far more solid than that on which Mr. 
Henry builds the doctrine of Christian imperfec- 
tion, and of the necessary indwelling of sin in the 
most holy believers ; for, 

2. It appears from JSTuni. xxxiii 51, etc., that 
the sparing of the Canaanites was a punishment 
inflicted on the Israelites, as well as a favor shown 
to the Canaanites, some of whom, like Rahab and 
the Gibeonites, probably turned to the Lord, and, 
as " God's creatures," enjoyed his saving mercy in 


72 CHEISTIAN PERFECTION. 

the land of promise. But is indwelling sin one of 
God's creatures, that he should show it any favor, 
and should refuse his assistance to the faithful 
"believers who are determined to give it no quar- 
ter ? Can indwelling sin be converted to God, as 
the indwelling Canaanites might, and as some of 
them, undoubtedly were ? 

3. The capital flaws of the argument are, we 
apprehend, two suppositions, the absurdity of 
which is glaring. " Corruption," says he, " is left 
remaining in the hearts of good Christians, that 
they may learn war, and keep on the whole armor 
of God, and stand continually on their guard." 
Just as if Christ had not done all these without 
any help from, indwelling sin ! -just as if the world, 
the devil, the weakness of the flesh, and death, our 
last enemy, with which our Lord so severely con- 
flicted, were not adversaries powerful enough to 
prove us, to engage us to learn war, and to make 
us keep on, and use the whole armor of God to the 
" end of our life !" and just as though the contin- 
uance of indwelling hatred to God and rebellion 
against him which constitute the very essence 
and source of all sin of all kinds would put us to 
extra pains to put on and keep bright our whole 
armor to fight for him. 

The other absurd proposition is, that " pride and 
security and other sins," which are supposed to be 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 73 

typified by the "wild "beasts," mentioned Deut. 
vii. 22, will increase upon us by the destruction of 
indwelling sin. But is it not as ridiculous to sup- 
pose this as to say, Pride will increase upon us by 
the destruction of pride, and carnal security will 
gather strength by the extirpation of carnal secu- 
rity, and by the implanting of constant watchful- 
ness, which is a branch of the Christian perfection 
for which we contend ? 

4. Is not the inference which Mr. Henry draws 
from these words, " Thou inayest not consume them 
at once ; the Lord will put them out before thee 
by little and little," also highly absurd ? Does he 
give us the shadow of an argument to prove that 
this verse was spoken of our indwelling corrup- 
tions ? And suppose it was, would this prove that 
the doctrine of an indwelling purgatory is true ? 
You must eat your dinner by little and little ; you 
cannot swallow it at one gulp. A farmer tells his 
son, We cannot plough this field at once, but we 
may " by little and little ;" that is, by making one 
furrow after another, till we end the last furrow. 
Hence I draw the following inferences : We eat 
our meals and plough our fields "by little and 
little " therefore no field can be ploughed, and no 
meal eaten, before death. [It does not require 
an Aristotle to perceive the flaw in these con- 
clusions .3 


74 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

5. But the greatest absurdity, I apprehend, is 
yet behind. Not to observe that we do not remem- 
ber to have read any command in our Bibles not 
to consume sin at once ; or any declaration that 
God will put it out only " by little and little j" we 
ask, what length of time do you suppose God 
means ? You make him say that he will make an 
end of indwelling sin " by little and little :" do you 
think he means four days, four years, or fourscore 
years ? If you say that God cannot, or will not, 
wholly cleanse the thoughts of our hearts under 
fourscore years, you send all who die under that 
age into hell, or into some purgatory, where they 
must wait till the eighty years of their conflict 
with indwelling sin are ended. If you say that 
God can or will do it in four days, but not under, 
you absurdly suppose that the penitent thief re- 
mained at least three days in Paradise full of 
indwelling sin : seeing his sanctification must be 
" carried on gradually," for the space of four days 
at least. If you are obliged to grant that the 
words, " by little and little," as applied to the de- 
struction of indwelling sin, may mean four hours 
the time which the penitent thief probably lived 
after his conversion as well as four days, do you 
not begin to be ashamed of your system? And 
if you reply that death alone fully extirpates in- 
dwelling sin, does not this favorite tenet of yours 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 75 

overturn Mr. Henry's doctrine about the slow, 
"gradual" destruction of indwelling sin? May 
not a sinner believe in a moment, when Grod helps 
him to believe ? And may not a believer whom 
you suppose necessarily full of indwelling sin, as 
long as he is in the world die in a moment ? If 
you answer in the negative, you deny the sudden 
death of John the Baptist, St. James, and St. Paul, 
who had their heads cut off in a moment : in a 
word, you deny that any believer can die suddenly. 
If you reply in the affirmative, you give up the 
point, and grant that indwelling sin may be instant- 
ly destroyed. And now what becomes of Mr. 
Henry's argument which supposes that sanctifica- 
tion can never be complete without a long, gradual 
process ; and that the extirpation of sin cannot 
take place but " by little and little ?" 


76 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


CHAPTER Y. 

CHRISTIAN PERFECTION ATTAINABLE IN THIS LIFE. 

WE have hitherto stood on the defensive against 
those who insinuate that the apostles, patriarchs, 
and prophets were advocates of the twin doctrines 
of Christian imperfection and a death-purgatory. 
We shall now attack these doctrines by a variety of 
arguments, which, we hope, will recommend them- 
selves to the candid reader's conscience and rea- 
son ; and in the meantime establish the attaina- 
bility of Christian perfection in this life. 

I. Death is not necessary to perfect man's moral 
nature ; nay, it can have nothing to do in changing 
his moral relations. 1. Were pride a disordered 
stomach, or raging anger a fit of the toothache ; 
were vanity the dropsy, or revenge a fever ; were 
disobedience a broken bone, or unchaiitableness a 
rheumatic affection; then there would be some 
sense in the doctrine of Christian imperfection, and 
reason would subscribe to the notion of a death- 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 77 

purgatory ; for it is certain that death effectually 
cures dyspepsia, toothache, dropsy, and the rest. 
But what real affinity have moral disorders with 
"bodily death? 

2. [We have shown that the possession of those 
susceptibilities which are essential to human na- 
ture, does not constitute a man a sinner. Sin can- 
not, in any direct sense, be predicated of man's 
physical nature. Its seat, its entire responsibility, 
lies in his moral faculties in the conscience, the 
will, the intention. Now, as his physical nature 
is endowed with none of these, it cannot be said to 
be sinful. How can a mere material machine for 
such is the human body do any thing of itself 
that may be, morally, either right or wrong ? I 
use any hand to send a knife to the heart of a 
friend. Does the knife sin? Or does my hand sin 
any more than the knife ? Evidently neither sins, 
each being an impassive instrument. Is it not 
rather my soul which determines upon the act, and 
uses the hand which is under its complete control, 
as its unconscious implement, to perpetrate the 
deed ? But further. I was very hungry, and I 
slew him for food to satisfy that hunger. Now, 
did my stomach sin in warning me that my body 
was wasting away, and needed food to restore it ? 
Was not this one of the very purposes for which 
my stomach was made ? And does it sin in the 


78 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

faithful discharge of the very function ordained for 
it by its Creator ? It was not the stomach, then, 
any more than the hand, that sinned; but the 
moral part of my nature, in consenting to use un- 
lawful means to gratify its demands. The same 
reasoning will apply to all and each of the appe- 
tites, susceptibilities, and powers of our corporeal 
frame, and with equal force. These things being 
so, the conclusion cannot be averted, that the moral 
state of man is not affected either by its union 
with, or severance from, the body. 

3. This conclusion is further established by a 
consideration of what is physical death. And 
what is it but a simple dissolution of the tempo- 
rary union of two things totally dissimilar in their 
nature ? what, but the soul's forsaking a tenement 
no longer fit for its abode ? Does the leaving of a 
material dwelling, but temporarily occupied, alter a 
man's moral nature? "Where the tree falleth," 
says the voice of inspired wisdom, " there it shall 
be." Eccl. xi. 3. But to be more minute. "Death 
is the total and permanent cessation of all the vital 
functions." How cessation of the vital functions is 
to effect a moral renovation, is difficult to conceive. 
Indeed, it is contrary to matter of fact ; for it is 
well known that such cessation frequently occurs, 
as in all cases of asphyxia, in which animation is 
suspended for hours, and sometimes even for sev- 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 79 

eral days. And yet we cannot perceive that per- 
sons who have suffered thus have, on recovering, 
shown any marked indications of a moral change 
brought about by this protracted cessation of all 
the vital functions. And we see no reason why 
the cessation of those functions for an hour or a 
minute should not as effectually sanctify our nature, 
as a cessation of a thousand years. 

But if it should be contended that the " cases 
alluded to do not involve a total suspension of all 
the vital functions," we ask for the proof, and con- 
tend that all the appearances are in favor of our 
position. And if it be but partial, we argue that 
if a permanent, total suspension of all the vital 
functions operates a. total revolution of the moral 
nature of man, why should not a temporary sus- 
pension of some or all of them result in a partial 
revolution at least effect a considerable apprecia- 
ble change ? But this, the foots in the premises 
deny. 

4. Age brings with it the impairment of all the 
physical faculties, and the destruction of many. 
Yet the aged transgressor is none the less disposed 
to transgress, than when youthful blood gave life 
to his energies. Yet if the destruction of these 
powers would destroy sin, their impairment would 
impair sin in proportion. 

5. If our moral state and relations be so entirely 


80 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

transformed by death, -why are they not corre- 
spondingly changed by disease of which death is 
but the consummation in proportion to its sever- 
ity and the nearness to death? But do facts 
show that such are the results of disease ? Is it 
not often remarked that such a man's " ruling pas- 
sion was strong in death ?" that some evil passion 
was uncommonly stirred up at the very moment 
of dissolution ? Does not the working of the vilest 
affections evince that no good has been accom- 
plished ? And does the after-life, in case of appar- 
ent struggling with death, manifest any moral 
melioration ? If not, with what show of reason 
can we suppose that that is done for us by death 
which can be done by nothing else, not even, with- 
out its aid, by the blood of Christ ? 

6. If any part of the work of freeing man from, 
sin be done by death, why may not the whole ? 
And then what need of the advent and death of 
Christ? And why may not the Universalists' 
doctrine be true, that " he that is dead physically, 
is freed from sin ?" Rom. vi. 7.] 

7. Death, far from introducing imperfect Chris- 
tians into the state of Christian perfection, will 
take them, out of the very possibility of ever 
attaining it. This will appear indubitable, if we 
remember that Christian perfection consists in per- 
fect repentance, perfect faith, perfect hope, perfect 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 81 

love of an invisible God, perfect charity for visible 
enemies, perfect patience in pain, and perfect resig- 
nation under losses ; in a constant bridling of our 
bodily appetites, in an assiduous keeping of our 
senses, in a cheerful taking up of our cross, in a 
resolute " following of Christ out of the camp," and 
in a deliberate choice to " suffer affliction with the 
people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures 
of sin for a season." Now, so certain as there can 
be no perfect repentance in the grave no Christian 
faith, where all is sight no perfect hope, where all 
is enjoyment no perfect love of an invisible God 
or of visible enemies, where God is visible and 
enemies are invisible no bearing pain with per- 
fect patience, when pain is no more, and suffering 
affliction with the people of God, where no shadow 
of affliction lights upon the people of God so cer- 
tain, I say, does death put the attainment and 
exercise of Christian perfection out of the reach 
of all who had not previously attained it ; for as 
death incapacitates us for these duties, so it does 
for every branch of Christian perfection. 

8. It is certain that God, who can command iron 
to swim, and fire to cool, could have appointed death 
to make an end of heart-pollution, and to be our com- 
plete saviour from sin ; and then there would have 
been some reason in those arguments which contend 
for a death-purgatory. But in our Bible we do 


82 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

not read that Grod ever appointed the king of ter- 
rors to deliver us from the deadly seeds of iniquity, 
or ever gave to indwelling sin a lease of any be- 
liever's heart for life. If it be there, is it where it 
is written that " Christ has abolished death, and 
brought life and immortality to light through the 
gospel?" Does the Scripture anywhere say that 
the Holy Spirit is sent to perfect us in love 
through death that purifies the heart, and which, 
if any man hath, he will purify himself even as 
Grod is pure ? How rash, then, is it to substitute 
the pangs of death, without any scriptural war- 
rant, for the Holy Spirit, in accomplishing the 
most difficult work in our redemption, and, of con- 
sequence, the most glorious, even the (e purifying 
unto himself a peculiar people," not full of inbred 
unrighteousness, but dead to sin, free from sin, 
pure in heart, and " zealous of good works !" 

9. From these arguments as to the influence of 
death on our moral standing, it follows incontro- 
vertibly, that if ever we reach heaven, we will be 
made perfectly holy in some purgatory after death, 
or else that work must be accomplished in this 
life. 

10. If our opponents allow that faith and love 
may be made perfect two or three minutes before 
death, they give up the point. Death is no longer 
necessary to the destruction of unbelief and sin ; 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 83 

for if the " evil heart of unbelief, departing from 
the living God," may be taken away, and the com- 
pletely " honest and good heart" given two or three 
minutes before death, we desire to know why this 
change may not take place two or three hours, two 
or three weeks, or two or three years, before that 
awful moment. See this treated more fully in the 
preceding chapter. 

II. As we have thus shown that Christian per- 
fection cannot be secured in the next world, nor 
in the transition from this to the coming life, we 
might rest the argument here, inferring conclusively 
that, in order to get to heaven, where nothing de- 
filed with the least impurity can enter, we must 
perfect holiness in the fear of God " in this present 
world." Yet we will not stop here, but show, from 
a variety of other arguments, that the attainable- 
ness of Christian perfection is one of the corner- 
stones in the grand structure of Christian doctrine, 
as presented in the gospel of Christ. 

1. How does the notion of sin necessarily dwell- 
ing in the hearts of the most advanced Christians, 
agree with the full tenor of the New Covenant, 
which runs thus : " I will put my laws in their 
minds, and write them in their hearts ;" " The law 
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus shall make 
them free from the law of sin and death ?" If the 
law of perfect love to God and man be fully put 


84 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

into the heart of the believer, according to the full 
tenor of Christ's gospel, what room remains for the 
hellish statutes of Satan ? Does not the Lord 
cleanse the believer's heart, as he writes the law 
of love there ? And when that law is wholly 
written by the Spirit "the finger of God" 
which applies the all-cleansing blood, is not the 
heart wholly cleansed? When God completely 
gives the " heart of flesh," does he not completely 
take away the " heart of stone ?" Is not the heart 
of stone the very rock in which the serpent, in- 
dwelling sin, lurks ? And will God take away that 
accursed rock, and spare the venomous viper that 
breeds in its clefts ? 

2. If Christ takes away the outward pollution 
of believers, while he absolutely leaves their hearts 
full of indwelling sin in this life, why did he find 
fault with the Pharisees for " cleansing the outside 
of the cup and the platter, while they left the in- 
side full of all corruption ?" If God says, " My 
son, give nie thy heart ;'' if he requires " truth in 
the inward parts ;" and complains that the Jews 
" drew near to him with their lips, while their 
hearts were far from him," is it not strange that 
he should be willing for the hearts of his own pe- 
culiar people to remain necessarily unclean during 
the term of life ? Besides, is there any other gos- 
pel way of fully cleansing the lips and hands than 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 85 

by thoroughly cleansing the heart ? And is not a 
cleansing so far Pharisaical as it is heartless ? Once 
more : if Christ has assured us that " blessed are 
the pure in heart," and that " if the Son shall make 
us free, we shall be free indeed," does it not be- 
hoove our opponents to prove that a believer has 
a pure heart who is full of indwelling corruption, 
and that a man is free indeed who is still sold 
under inbred sin ? 

3. Is there not a present cleansing power, as well 
as a present atoning efficacy, in the Redeemer's 
blood ? We have already noticed that the same 
passage of Scripture which informs us that "if we 
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive 
us our sins," declares also that, upon the same 
gracious terms, " He is faithful and just to cleanse 
us from all unrighteousness." Now, if the faithful 
and just God is ready to forgive, to-day, a poor 
mourner who sincerely confesses his guilt; and if 
it would be doing Divine faithfulness and justice 
great dishonor to say that God will not forgive a 
weeping penitent before the article of death ; is it 
doing those Divine perfections honor to say that 
God will not cleanse, before death, a believer who 
humbly confesses and deeply laments the remains 
of sin? Why should not God display his faith- 
fulness and justice in cleansing us nozu from inbred 
sin, as well as in forgiving us now our actual in- 


88 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

iquities, if we now comply with the gracious terms, 
to the performance of which this double blessing 
is annexed in the gospel charter ? 

4. When our Lord says, " Make the tree good 
and its fruit good : a good man out of the good 
treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things/' 
does he suppose that the hearts of his people must 
always remain fraught with indwelling sin? Is 
indwelling sin a good treasure? Or does Christ 
anywhere plead for the necessary indwelling of a 
bad treasure in a good man? When the spouse " is 
all glorious within," when her " eye is single and 
her whole body is full of light," how can she still 
be full of darkness and inbred iniquity? And 
when St. Paul observes that established Christians 
are " full of goodness," Horn. xv. 14, who can think 
that he means that they are full of heart-corruption, 
and what is worse still that they must continue 
so to their dying-day ? 

5. As those feelings which constitute the char- 
acter of the perfect Christian, and those duties 
which are required of him, all pertain to this life, 
and many of them exclusively so, how absurd is it 
to put off their attainment till the moment of death, 
or until we get to heaven ! A part of that perfec- 
tion is perfect mourning ana* repentance ; but who 
imagines that sorrow and contrition will be exer- 
cised in perfection where " all tears shall be wiped 


CHEISTIAN PEEFECTION. 87 

from all faces?" Another constituent is perfect 
love and forgiveness of onr enemies ; but how can 
these essential Christian graces be perfected where 
there are no enemies to be loved or forgiven ? It 
also enjoins perfect rejoicing under revilings and 
persecutions; but how can this be in heaven, 
where there will be none to revile or persecute ? 
Christian perfection also demands perfect self- 
denial and perfect control of all the appetites and 
passions ; but how can this be in heaven in -its 
perfection, where there will probably be no appe- 
tites, where passion will be under no sort of temp- 
tation to unhallowed excitement, and where there 
will be no tempter to lead us astray ? Again : if 
Christian perfection implies the perfect use of " the 
whole armor of God," what can be more absurd 
than the thought that we shall be made perfect 
Christians in heaven or at death ? How will it be 
proven that we shall perfectly use the helmet of 
hope, perfectly wield the shield of faith, and per- 
fectly quench the fiery darts of the devil, in 
heaven, where faith, hope, and the darts of the 
devil shall never enter ? Or how shall we demon- 
strate that a soldier shall perfectly go through his 
exercise in the article of death, that is, in the very 
moment he leaves the army, and for ever puts off 
his harness.? 

[6. We argue the attainability of Christian per- 


88 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

fection in the present life " in this world" -from 
the express declarations of God's word; to say 
nothing of the absurdity of giving us, in our pre- 
sent state of being, rules which must be fulfilled 
in another, but cannot be in this. The duties 
which Christian perfection involves are to be per- 
formed by us in this life, according to the evident 
spirit and plain statement of the letter of the law. 
For the grace of God hath appeared to all men, 
teaching us that, denying all ungodliness and 
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, 
and godly that is, fulfil perfectly all the duties 
of a perfect Christian "in this present world." 
Tit. ii. 11, 12. 

7. This world is unmistakably fixed by the 
Apostle John, in his first Epistle, as the theatre of 
this perfection of love, at the same time that he 
distinctly avows its accomplishment in himself and 
others. "Herein is our love made perfect, that we 
may have boldness in the day of judgment, be- 
cause as he is, so are ive in this workL" 1 John 
iv. 17. "We can conceive of no mode of expres- 
sion more direct, more unequivocal, and more for- 
cible than this, in which he distinctly professes 
Christian perfection in this world, and declares it 
to be a necessary preparation for the final judg- 
ment. 

8. Besides this profession of St. John, and that 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 89 

similar one of St. Paul, in Phil. iii. 15, in behalf 
both of themselves and others, the Scriptures are 
full of instances, which were recorded "for en- 
samples," of perfect servants of God, under every 
dispensation, from Genesis to Revelation from 
Enoch, who was so holy that death did not inter- 
vene between his earthly abode and his heavenly 
home, including Noah and Job and a host of others, 
down even to the last of the apostles of the 
Saviour. 

9. Would it not be an instance of preposterous 
folly for an intelligent being to establish a plan, 
and institute an extensive course of operations, 
bringing to bear expensive agencies, for the avowed 
accomplishment of what he knows to be impracti- 
cable, at least so long as the influences of the 
agencies, etc., should last? Yet, if there be no 
such thing as perfection in this life, such a charge, 
according to the testimony of the Apostle Paul, 
rests against the Institutor of all the various grades 
of the gospel ministry ; for " He gave some, apos- 
tles; some, prophets; some, evangelists; some, 
pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the 
saints till WE all come to a perfect man, to the 
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." 
Eph. iy. 11-13. 

10. The same may be said of the whole plan of 


90 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

redemption, and especially of its Author. For 
when the angel announced his advent, he directed 
his name to be " called Jesus, for he shall save his 
people from their sins." In accordance with this, 
John the Baptist exclaims, " Behold the Lamb of 
God, which taJceth aivay the sin of the world ;" and 
John the Evangelist declares that " for this pur- 
pose the Son of God was manifested, that he 
might destroy the works of the devil," which 
works, as the context shows, are sin sin inward 
and outward, secret and overt ; for neither here nor 
elsewhere have we any warrant in the inspired 
word for inserting a proviso in favor of indwelling 
sin, the bitterest of all, as it is the fountain that 
supplies all iniquity, the root from which springs 
every other sin. All his teachings, and his whole 
life, and his atoning death, declare how assiduously 
he pursued this, the one object of his incarnation 
and sufferings, 

Now one of these following things must be true : 
Either he was so unwise as to propose a plan which 
he knew could not be accomplished ; or he could 
not see the bearings of his own operations ; or he 
is too impotent to accomplish what his wisdom had 
devised; or he tantalizes man by proposing to 
accomplish for him. what he does not intend ; or 
else, as the only other alternative, he intends to, 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 91 

and when the conditions are complied with, actually 
does, save his people from their sins, both inward 
and outward.] 

11. From the preceding argument, it follows 
that the graces of repentance, faith, hope, and 
Christian charity, or love for an invisible God, fc/r 
trying friends, and for visible enemies, must be 
perfected here or never. If it be granted that these 
graces are, or may be, perfected here, this is all 
that we contend for. And if it be asserted that 
they shall never be perfected, because there is " no 
perfection here," and because the perfection of re- 
pentance, etc., can have no more place in heaven 
than sinning and mourning, I ask, what becomes 
then of the following scriptures ? "As for God, 
his work is perfect : being confident of this very 
thing, that he who hath begun a good work in 
you who have always obeyed, Phil. ii. 12 will 
perform, or, eTwre/lecret, will perfect it," if you con- 
tinue to obey. " The Lord will perfect that which 
concerneth me. Praying exceedingly that we, as 
workers together with God, might perfect that 
which is lacking in your faith. Looking unto 
Jesus, the author and reAeiwr^v the perfecter of 
our faith ; for he is faithful that promised." How 
can the Lord be faithful, and yet never perfect the 
repentance and faith of his obedient people ? Will 


92 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

he sow such a blessed seed as that of faith, hope, 
and love to our enemies, and never let a grain of 
it bring forth fruit unto perfection ? [Is not such 
a doctrine too absurd to be admitted, except by 
the blindness of prejudice ?] 

12. But we are frequently asked, "Where are 
those perfect Christians ? We answer, that if the 
perfect love that keeps the commandments is not at- 
tainable, the Bible is no better than a Popish 
legend, and that that book, which makes such 
frequent mention of the perfect and of perfection, 
and in such varied ways urges its readers to the 
attainment of perfection, ought to be ranked among 
religious romances, which recommend imaginary 
things, as if they were indubitable realities. So 
sure, then, as the Bible is true, there are, or may 
~be, perfect Christians. But, " while we honor dead 
saints, we call those who are alive enthusiasts, 
hypocrites, or heretics." It is not proper, there- 
fore, to expose them to the darts of envy or mal- 
ice. And suppose living witnesses of perfect love 
were produced, what would be the consequence ? 
Their testimony would be excepted to by those 
who disbelieve the doctrine of Christian perfection, 
just as the testimony of the believers, who enjoy 
the sense of their justification, is rejected by those 
who do not believe that a clear experience of the 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 93 

peace and pardoning love of Grod is attainable in 
this life. If the original, direct perfection of 
Christ was denied and horribly blackened by his 
bigoted opposers, how could the derived, reflected 
perfection of his members escape the same treat- 
ment from men whose hearts are tinctured with a 
degree of the' same bigotry ? 

But if we could not point out a single instance, 
this would in no way aifect the argument. For 
if we have proven that it is a doctrine of the 
word of Grod, it would be just as true, though 
there were not a single perfect Christian living. 
Would the evidences of the divinity of our holy 
Christianity be any the less valid, even though 
there could not be found a single Christian in the 

V_y 

world ? 

Add to this, that in order to harden unbeliev- 
ers, "the accuser of the brethren" perpetually 
obtrudes upon the Church, not only false wit- 
nesses of pardoning grace, but also vain pretenders 
to perfect love ; for he knows that, by putting off 
as many counterfeits as he possibly can, he will 
give the enemies of the truth room to say that 
there is, in the Church, no gold purified seven 
times no coin truly stamped with the King's 
image, perfect love, and bearing the royal inscrip- 
tion, " Holiness unto the Lord." 


94 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

Therefore, instead of saying that this or the 
other eminent believer has attained Christian per- 
fection, we re"st the cause upon the plain and une- 
quivocal doctrine of the Scriptures, and upon the 
experience of the " holy men of old," whose pro- 
fessions and experience it so faithfully, records. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 95 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE MISCHIEVOUSNESS OF THE DOCTRINE OF CHRISTIAN 

IMPERFECTION. 

THIS chapter is intended to prove the mischiev- 
ousness of the doctrine of Christian imperfection. 

I. It strikes at the doctrine of salvation ty 
faith. " By grace are ye saved through faith," 
not only from the guilt and outward acts of sin, 
but also from its roots and secret buds. " Not of 
works/' says the apostle, "lest any man should 
[Pharisaically] boast ;" and may we not add, Not 
of DEATH, lest he that had the power of death, that 
is, the devil, should [absurdly] boast? Does not 
what strikes at the doctrine of faith, and abridges 
the salvation which we obtain by it, equally strike 
at Christ's power and glory ? Is it not the busi- 
ness of faith to receive Christ's saying word, to 
apprehend the power of his sanctifying Spirit, and 
to inherit all the great promises by which he saves 
his penitent, believing people from their sins ? Is 


96 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

it not evident that if no believers can be saved 
from indwelling sin through faith, we must correct 
the apostle's doctrine, and say, " By grace are ye 
saved from the remains of sin, through death?" 
And can unprejudiced Protestants admit so Christ- 
debasing, death-exalting a tenet, without giving a 
dangerous blow to the genuine doctrines of the 
reformation ? 

II. It dishonors Christ as a Prophet ; for, as 
such, he came to teach us to be now "meek and 
lowly in heart ;" but the imperfect gospel of the 
day teaches that we must necessarily continue 
passionate and proud in heart till death ; for pride 
and immoderate anger are, I apprehend, two main 
branches of indwelling sin. Again : my motto 
demonstrates that he publicly taught the multi- 
tudes the doctrine of perfection, and some of its 
opponents have insinuated that this doctrine is 
" shocking," not to say " blasphemous." 

III. It disgraces Christ as the Captain of our 
salvation; for St. Paul says, that our Captain fur- 
nishes us with " weapons mighty through God to 
the pulling down of Satan's strongholds, and to 
the bringing of every thought into captivity to the 
obedience of Christ." But our opponents repre- 
sent the devil's stronghold as absolutely impreg- 
nable. No weapons of our warfare can pull down 
Apollyon's throne. Inbred sin shall maintain its 


CHKISTIAN PERFECTION. 97 

place in man's heart till death strike the victorious 
blow. Christ may indeed fight against the Jericho 
within, as "Joab fought against Kabbah of the 
children of Ammon ;" but then he must send for 
death, as Joab sent for David, saying, "I have 
fought against Kabbah, and have taken the city of 
"waters : now, therefore, gather the rest of the peo- 
ple together, encamp against the city, and take it, 
lest I take the city, and it be called after my 
name." 2 Sam. xii. 27, 28. 

IY. It pours contempt upon him as the Surety 
of the neiv covenant, in which Grod has engaged 
himself 'to deliver obedient believers " from their 
enemies, that they may serve him without [tor- 
menting] fear, all the days of their lives." For 
how does he execute his office in this respect, if 
he never sees that such believers be delivered from 
their most oppressive and inveterate enemy, in- 
dwelling sin ? Or if that deliverance take place 
only at death, how can they, in consequence of 
their death freedom, " serve Grod without fear all 
the days of their lives ?" 

Y. It affronts Christ as a King, when it repre- 
sents the believer's heart, which is Christ's spirit- 
ual throne, as being necessarily full of indwelling 
sin a spiritual rebel, who, notwithstanding the 
joint eiforts of Christ and the believer, maintains 
his power against them both during the term of 
4 


98 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

life. Again: does not a good king deliver his 
loyal subjects from oppression, and avenge them 
of a tyrannical adversary, when they cry to him 
in their distress ? But does our Lord show him- 
self such a king, if he never avenge them, nor turn 
the usurper, the murderer, sin, out of their breasts ? 
Once more : if our deliverance from sin depend 
upon the stroke of death, and not upon a stroke 
of Christ's grace, might we not call upon the king 
of terrors, as well as upon the King of saints, for 
deliverance from the remains of sin ? But where 
is the difference between saying, " death, help 
us !" and crying, " Baal, save us ?" 

VI. It injures Christ as a Restorer of pure, spir- 
itual worship in God's spiritual temple, the heart 
of man. Eor it indirectly represents him as a 
Pharisaic Saviour, who made much ado about 
driving, with a whip, harmless sheep and oxen out 
of his Father's material temple ; but who gives full 
leave to Satan, not only to bring sheep and doves 
into the believer's heart, but also to harbor and 
breed there, during the term of life, the swelling 
toad, pride ; and the hissing viper, envy ; to say 
nothing of the greedy dog, avarice, and the filthy 
swine, impurity ; under pretence of " exercising 
the patience and engaging the industry" of the 
worshippers. 

VII. It insults Christ as a Priest; for our Mel- 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 99 

chisedec shed his all-cleansing blood upon the 
cross, and now pours his all-availing prayer before 
the throne ; asking that, upon evangelical terms, 
we may now be " cleansed from all unrighteous- 
ness, and perfected in one." But if we assert that 
believers, let them be ever so faithful, can never 
be thus cleansed and perfected in one till death 
conies to the Saviour's assistance, do we not place 
our Lord's cleansing blood, and powerful interces- 
sion, and of consequence his priesthood, in an un- 
scriptural and contemptible light ? 

Should an attempt be made to retort this argu- 
ment by saying, " that it is our doctrine, not theirs, 
which derogates from the honor of Christ's priest- 
hood, because we should no longer need our High- 
Priest's blood, if we were cleansed from all sin ;" 
I reply : 

(1.) Perfect Christians need as much the virtue 
of Christ's blood, to prevent the guilt and pollution 
of sin from returning, as imperfect Christians want 
it to drive that guilt and pollution away. It is 
not enough that the blood of the true paschal 
Lamb has been sprinkled upon our souls to keep 
off the destroyer; it must still remain there to 
hinder his coming back " with seven other spirits 
more wicked than himself." (2.) A man is in the 
dark ; he calls for a light ; and when it is brought, 
he observes, The darkness of the room is now 


100 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

totally removed. " Is it so, sir ?" replies his foot- 
man ; " then you need these candles no more j if 
they have totally removed the darkness of your 
apartment, you have no more need of them." He 
smiles at the absurdity of his servant's argument ; 
and yet it is well if he does not admire the wis- 
dom of my opponent's objection. (3.) The hearts 
of perfect Christians are cleansed and kept clean 
by faith ; and Christian perfection means the per- 
fection of Christian faith, whose property it is to 
endear Christ and his blood more and more ; no- 
thing, then, can be less reasonable than to say that, 
upon our principles, perfect believers have done 
with the atoning blood. (.4.) Such believers con- 
tinually " overcome the accuser of the brethren" 
through the blood of the Lamb ; there is no mo- 
ment, therefore, in which they can spare it : they 
are feeble believers who can yet dispense with its 
constant application; and hence it is that they 
continue feeble. None make so much use of 
Christ's blood as perfect Christians. Once it was 
only their medicine, which they took now and 
then, when a fit of fear, or a pang of guilt, obliged 
them to it ; but now it is the Divine preservative, 
which keeps off the infection of sin. Now it is 
the reviving cordial, which they take to prevent 
their "growing weary or faint in their minds." 
Now it is their daily drink ; now it is what they 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 101 

sprinkle their every thought, word and work with. 
In a word, it is that blood which constantly speaks 
before Grod and in their consciences " better things 
than the blood of Abel." and actually procures for 
them all the blessings which they enjoy or expect. 
To say, therefore, that the doctrine of Christian 
perfection supersedes the need of Christ's blood, is 
not less absurd than to assert that the perfection 
of navigation renders the great deep a useless 
reservoir of water. Lastly : Are not the saints 
before the throne perfectly sinless ? And who are 
more ready than they to extol the blood and sing 
the song of the Lamb : " To him that loved us, and 
washed us from our sins in his blood, be glory," 
etc. ? If an angel preached to them the modern 
gospel, and desired them to plead for the remains 
of sin, lest they should lose their peculiar value 
for the atoning blood, would not they all suspect 
him to be an angel of darkness, transforming him- 
self into an angel of light ? And shall we be the 
dupes of the tempter, who deceives good men, that 
they may deceive us by a similar argument ? 

VIII. It discredits Christ as the Fulfiller of the 
Father's promise, and as the Sender of the indwell- 
ing, abiding Comforter, in order that our joy inay 
be full. For the Spirit never takes his constant 
abode as a Comforter in a heart full of indwelling 
sin. If he visit such a heart with his consolations, 


102 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

it is only "as a guest that tarrieth but a day." 
When he enters a soul fraught with inbred cor- 
ruption, he rather acts as a Reprover than as a 
Comforter : throwing down the tables of the spir- 
itual money-changers ; hindering the vessels, which 
are not holiness unto the Lord, from being carried 
through God's spiritual temple, and expelling, ac- 
cording to the degree of our faith, whatsoever 
would make God's house " a den of thieves." 

IX. The doctrine of our necessary continuance 
in indwelling sin to our last moments, makes us 
naturally overlook or despise the " exceeding great 
and precious promises given unto us, that by these 
we might be partakers of the Divine nature," that 
is, of God's perfect holiness ; " having escaped the 
corruption that is in the world through lust." 
2 Pet. i. 4. And thus it naturally defeats the full 
effect of evangelical truths and ministerial labors ; 
an effect, this, which is thus described by St. Paul : 
" Teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may 
present every man perfect in Christ Jesus ;" that 
is, perfect according to the richest dispensation of 
Divine grace, Avhich is, "the gospel of Christ Jesus." 
Col. i. 28. Again : " The. Scripture is profitable 
for ' instruction in righteousness, that the man of 
God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to all 
good works." 2 Tim. iii. 16. Now we apprehend 
that the perfection which thoroughly furnishes 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 103 

believers nnto all good works, is a perfection pro- 
ductive of all the " good works" evangelically as 
well as providentially " prepared that we should 
walk in them" before death ; because the Scrip- 
tures say : " AVhatsoever thy hand findeth to do, 
do it with thy might; for there is no work nor 
device" in death, that is, "in the grave whither 
thou goest." For as the tree falls, so it lies : if it 
falls full of rottenness, with a brood of vipers and 
a never-dying worm in its hollow centre, it will 
continue in that very condition ; and woe to the 
man who trusts that the pangs of death will kill 
the worm, or that a purgative fire will spare the 
rotten wood and consume the vipers ! 

X. It defeats, in part, the end of the gospel 
precepts, to the fulfilling of which, gospel prom- 
ises are but means. "All the law, the prophets," 
and the apostolic writings, "hang on these two 
commandments : Thou shalt love the Lord tliy God 
with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself," 
through penitential faith in the light of thy dis- 
pensation; that is, in two words, thou shalt be 
evangelically perfect. Now, if w.e believe that it is 
absolutely impossible to be thus perfect by keep- 
ing these two blessed commandments in faith, we 
cannot but believe also that God, who requires us 
to keep them, is defective in zvisdom, equity, and 


104 CHRISTIAN -PERFECTION. 

goodness, by requiring us to do what is absolutely 
impossible; and we represent our Church as a 
wicked step-mother who betrays her children into 
the wanton commission of perjury, by requiring of 
every one of them, in the sacrament of baptism, a 
most solemn vow, by which they bind themselves, 
in the presence of God and of the congregation, 
that "they will keep God's holy will and com- 
mandments," that is, that they will keep God's 
evangelical law, " and walk in the same all the 
days of their life." . 

XI. It has a necessary tendency to unnerve our 
deepest prayers. How can we pray in faith that 
God would help us to " do his will on earth as it 
is done in heaven," or that he would " cleanse the 
thoughts of our hearts, that we may perfectly love 
him and worthily magnify his holy name ;" how 
can we, I say, ask this in faith, if we disbelieve 
the very possibility of having these petitions an- 
swered ? And what poor encouragement has 
Epaphras upon the scheme which we oppose : 
" always to labor fervently for the Colossians in 
prayer, that they might stand perfect and complete 
in the will of God;" or St. Paul to wish that " the 
very God of peace would sanctify the Thessa- 
lonians wholly, and that their whole spirit, and 
soul, and body, might be preserved blameless," if 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 105 

these requests could not be. granted "before death, 
and were unavoidably to be granted to them, and 
to all believers in the article thereof ? 

XII. It soothes lukewarm, unholy professors, 
and encourages them to sit quietly under the vine 
of Sodoni, and under their own barren fig tree : I 
mean under the baneful influence of their unbelief 
and indwelling sin ; nothing being more pleasing 
to the carnal mind than this syren song : " It is 
absolutely impossible that the thoughts of your 
hearts should be cleansed in this life. God him- 
self does not expect that you should be purified 
from all iniquity on this side the grave. It is 
proper that sin should dwell in your hearts by 
unbelief, to endear Christ to you, and so to wor/e 
together for your good" The preachers of mere 
morality insinuate that God does not forgive sins 
before death. This dangerous, uncomfortable doc- 
trine damps the faith of penitents, who think it 
absurd to expect before death what they are taught 
they can only receive at death. And as it is with 
the pardon of sins, so it is also with " cleansing 
from all unrighteousness." The preachers of 
Christian imperfection tell their hearers that no- 
body can be cleansed from heart-sin before death. 
This new doctrine makes them, secretly trust in a 
death-purgatory, and hinders them from pleading 
in faith the- promises of full sanctification before 


106 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

deatli stares tliein in the face ; while others, like 
spared Agag, madly venture upon the spear of the 
king of terrors, with their hearts full of indwelling 
sin. The dead tell no tales now ; but it will be 
well if, in the day of resurrection, those who plead 
for the necessary indwelling of sin during the term 
of life, do not meet in the great day with some 
deluded souls, who will give them no thanks for 
betraying them, to their last moments, into the 
hands of indwelling sin, by insinuating that there 
can be no deliverance from our evil tempers be- 
fore we are ready to exchange a death-bed for a 
coffin. 

XIII. It greatly discourages willing Israelites, 
and weakens the hands of the faithful spies who 
want to lead feeble believers on, and to take by 
force the kingdom which consists in righteousness, 
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ; nothing being 
more proper to damp their ardor than such a speech 
as this : " You may strive against your corruptions 
and evil tempers as long as you please ; but you 
shall never get rid of them : the Jericho within is 
impregnable ; it is fenced up to heaven, and gar- 
risoned by the tall, invincible, immortal sons of 
Anak : so strong are these adversaries, that the 
twelve apostles, with the help of Christ and the 
Holy Grhost, could never turn one of them out of 
his post. Nay, they so buffeted and overpowered 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 107 

St. Paul, the most zealous of the apostles, that 
they fairly took him. prisoner, ' sold him under sin,' 
and made him groan to the last, ' wretched, car- 
nal man that I am, who shall deliver me from the 
law of my inbred corruptions, which brings me into 
captivity to the law of sin ? I thank God through 
death. So, then, with the flesh,' you must, as well 
as St. Paul, f serve the law of sin' till you die. 
Nor need you fret at these tidings ; for they are 
the pure gospel of Christ, the genuine doctrines 
of free grace and Christian liberty. In Christ you 
are free, but in yourselves you must continue to 
serve the law of sin ; and, indeed, why should you 
not do it, since the sins of a Christian are for his 
(/ood; for the most grievous falls serve to make us 
know our place, to drive us nearer to Christ, and to 
make us sing louder the praises of restoring grace." 

How would this speech damp our desires after 
salvation from indwelling sin ! How would it 
make us hug the cursed chains of our inbred cor- 
ruptions, if the cloven foot of the imperfect, un- 
chaste Diana, which it holds out to public view 
without gospel sandals, were not sufficient to drive 
us back from this impure gospel to the pure gos- 
pel of Jesus Christ ! 

XIV. To conclude. The modish doctrine of 
Christian imperfection and death-purgatory is so 
contrived, that carnal men will always prefer the 


108 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

purgatory of the imperfectionists to that of the 
Papists. For the Papists prescribe I know not 
how many cups of Divine wrath and dire ven- 
geance, which are to be drunk by the souls of the 
believers who die half purged, or three-parts 
cleansed. These 7j^-damned, or a guarter- 
danined creatures, must go through a severe dis- 
cipline, and fiery salvation, in the very suburbs of 
hell, before they can be perfectly purified. But 
our opponents have found out a way to deliver 
half-hearted believers out of all fear in this re- 
spect. Such believers need not " utterly abolish 
the body of sin" in this world. The inbred man 
of sin not only may, bat he shall live as long as 
we do. You will possibly ask, " What is to be- 
come of this sinful guest? Shall he take us to 
hell, or shall we take him to heaven ? If he can- 
not die in this world, will Christ destroy him in 
the next ?" JSFo : here Christ is almost left out of 
the question, by those who pretend to be deter- 
mined to " know nothing but Christ and him cru- 
cified." Our indwelling adversary is not destroyed 
by the brightness of the Redeemer's spiritual ap- 
pearing, but by the gloom of the appearance of 
death. Thus they have found another Jesus; 
another Saviour from sin. The king of terrors 
comes to the assistance of Jesus's sanctifying 
grace, and instantaneously delivers the carnal 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 109 

believer from indwelling pride, unbelief, covetous- 
ness, peevishness, uncharitableness, love of the 
world, and inordinate affection. Thus the clammy 
sweats, brought on by the greedy monster, kill, 
it seems, the tree of sin, of which the blood of 
Christ could only kill the buds ! The dying sin- 
ner's breath does the capital work of the Spirit 
of holiness ! And, by the most astonishing of all 
miracles, the faint, infectious, last gasp of a sinful 
believer blows away, in the twinkling of an eye, 
the great mountain of inward corruption, which 
all the means of grace, all the faith, prayers, and 
sacraments of twenty, perhaps of forty years, 
with all the love in the heart of our Zerubbabel, 
all the blood in his veins, all the power in his 
hands, and all the faithfulness in his breast, were 
never able to remove ! If this doctrine be true, 
how greatly was St. Paul mistaken when he said, 
" The sting of death is sin, etc. Thanks be to 
God, who giveth us the victory through Christ 
our Lord !" Should he not have said, Death is 
the cure of sin, instead of saying, " Sin is the 
sting of death?" And should not his praises 
flow thus : " Thanks be to God, who giveth us 
the victory through DEATH, our great and only 
deliverer from our greatest and fiercest enemy, 
indwelling sin ?" 


110 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


CHAPTER VII. 

ANSWER, TO THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST CHRISTIAN PERFEC- 
TION DRAWN FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

HAVING proved that Christian perfection may be 
attained in this life, and having shown the danger- 
ous tendencies of the opposite doctrine, we now 
turn to consider the arguments which are urged 
against our doctrine, drawn from different parts of 
the inspired volume. And first, we consider those 
which are adduced from the Old Testament. 

" The heir, as long as he is a child in Jewish 
nonage differeth nothing from a servant, but is 
under tutors and schoolmasters until the time 
appointed "by the Father. Even so we, when we 
were children, were in bondage; but when the 
fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his 
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that 
we might receive the adoption of sons, and stand 
in the peculiar liberty wherewith Christ hath 
made us Christians free." Gal. iv. 1-5. But 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. Ill 

this very passage, which shows that Jews are, 
comparatively speaking, in. bondage, shows also 
that the Christian dispensation and its high privi- 
leges cannot be measured by the inferior privileges 
of the Jewish dispensation, under which Solomon 
lived ; for the " law made nothing perfect," in the 
Christian sense of the word. And " what the law 
could not do, God, sending his own Son, condemned 
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law 
might be fulfilled in us Christian believers who 
walk after the Spirit," being endued with that 
large measure of it which began to be poured on 
believers on the day of Pentecost ; for that mea- 
sure was not given before, because '" Jesus was 
not yet glorified." John vii. 39. But after "he 
had ascended on high, and had obtained the gift 
of the indwelling Comforter" for believers, " they 
received," says St. Peter, " the end of their faith, 
even the Christian salvation of their souls ;" a 
salvation which Paul justly calls " so great salva- 
tion," when he compares it with Jewish privileges. 
Heb. ii. 3. " Of which Christian salvation," 
proceeds Peter, " the prophets have inquired, who 
prophesied of the grace that should come unto 
you Christians searching what, or what manner 
of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them 
according to their dispensation did signify, when 
it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, 


112 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

and the glory the glorious dispensation. that 
should follow his return to heaven, and the ac- 
companying outpouring of the Spirit unto whom 
the Jewish prophets it was revealed, that not 
unto theni ; but unto us Christians they did 
minister the things that are now preached unto 
you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." 
1 Pet. i. 9, etc. And among those things, the 
Scriptures reckon the coming of the spiritual 
kingdom of Christ with power into the hearts of 
believers, and the baptism of fire, or the perfect 
love, which "burns up the chaff" of sin, "thor- 
oughly purges God's floor," and makes the hearts 
of perfect believers a " habitation of God through 
the Spirit," and not a nest for indwelling sin. 
Hence, we conclude that as the full measure of the 
Spirit, which perfects Christian believers, was not 
given before our Lord's ascension, it is absurd to 
judge of Christian perfection by the experiences 
of those who died before that remarkable event. 

This might suffice to unnerve all the arguments 
which have been adduced from the Old Testament 
against Christian perfection. However, we will 
give them a brief consideration. 

I. Solomon prays, and says : " If they sin 
against thee, (and there is no man that sinneth 
not,) and thou be angry with them," etc. 1 Kings 
viii. 46, etc. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 113 

[It is now folly settled by biblical criticism that 
the word here translated "sinneth," should be 
rendered " may sin ;" that is, " there is no man 
that may not sin" there is none so perfect as not 
to be liable to sin. And this is precisely the doc- 
trine we teach.] 

II. But Solomon also says: "There is not a 
just man on earth, that doeth good and sinneth 
not." Eccl. ^di. 20. 

[A similar answer gives a similar quietus to this. 
" There is no man, however just, however good 
his works, who is not liable to sin." This is 
enough for these two passages, so that it is not 
necessary to offer a number of reasons that might 
be adduced to show the unreasonableness and ab- 
surdity of the sense attributed to them by our 
opponents.] 

III. But again : " Solomon asks, " Who can 
say, I have made my heart clean ; I am pure from 
my sin ?" Prov. xx. 9. 

We answer : No one can thus truthfully declare 
his native innocence or purity from sin ; nor that, 
after having sinned, he has power to cleanse away 
his transgression. Yet in another sense, that man 
can say so in whom is answered the prayer of 
David : " Create in me a clean heart, God ;" or 
he who has obeyed the injunction of Paul : " Let 
us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh 


114 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

and spirit;" the man who has a well-grounded 
hope of heaven, who, according to the testimony 
of John, "purifieth himself, even as Christ is 
pure ;" he who is interested in the beatitude, 
" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God;" they, in fine, who have "purified their 
hearts "by faith" in the "blood of the everlasting 
covenant. 

TY. Isaiah is next marshalled in the ranks of 
the imperfectionists, because he speaks of the 
" filthiness of our righteousness." But it is clear 
that when he says that " our righteousness is as 
filthy rags," he speaks not of the righteousness 
of humble faith, but of the unevangelical, Phari- 
saic righteousness of unhumbled professors, a 
" righteousness of unhumbled pride." Therefore, 
the objection drawn from this passage is utterly 
futile. 

Y. Isaiah says of himself : " Woe is me, for I 
am a man of unclean lips." Isaiah vi. 5. 

True ; but in the two following verses he also 
says, that a "live coal taken from off the altar 
touched his lips," as though he had said : The 
Spirit of God applied to his heart the blood of 
sprinkling see Matt. iii. 11 seeing that this 
only could produce the result, for " his iniquity 
was taken away, and his sin was purged." This 
passage, then, instead of disproving Christian per- 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 115 

feetion, strongly proves the doctrine of Jewish 
perfection. 

VI. Job. whom the Lord himself pronounces 
perfect, according to his dispensation Job i. 8 
is absurdly set upon demolishing Christian perfec- 
tion, because he says, "If I justify myself, my 
own mouth shall condemn me : if I say in a self- 
justifying spirit- I am perfect, it shall also prove 
me perverse." Job ix. 20. 

God himself had pronounced Job perfect, ac- 
cording to his dispensation, and Job's modest fear 
of pronouncing himself so does not at all over- 
throw the Divine testimony ; it only shows that 
this man of God was disposed to "let another 
praise him, and not his own mouth ;" and that the 
more we are advanced in grace, the more we are 
averse to whatever has the appearance of ostenta- 
tion ; and the more deeply do we feel what Job 
felt when he said : " Behold, I am vile : what shall 
I answer thee ? I will put my hand upon my 
mouth." Job xl. 4. 

VII. But Job, far from mentioning his perfec- 
tion, says : " Now mine eye seeth thee, I abhor 
myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Job xlii. 6. 

Perfect humility, perfect repentance, and per- 
fect self-abasement, constitute essential parts of the 
perfection for which we contend. These words of 
Job, therefore, far from overthrowing our doctrine, 


116 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

only show the growth and depth of Job's perfec- 
tion, and that he had a taste of what Mr. Wesley 
prays for, when he says : 

" 0, let me gain perfection's height, 

0, let me into nothing fall, 
As less than nothing in thy sight, 

And feel that thou art all in all. 
Confound, o'erpo~wer me "with thy grace ; 

I "would be by myself abhorred-: 
All might, all majesty, all praise, 

All glory, be to Christ my Lord !" 

VIII. The words, " The stars are not pure, the 
heavens are not clean in thy sight : his angels he 
charged with folly," Job xv. 15, 18, must be con- 
sidered as proof that absolute perfection belongs 
to God alone a truth which we constantly incul- 
cate. If such passages overthrow the doctrine of 
perfection, they principally overthrow the doctrine 
of angelical perfection, which we all hold. 

IX. Job asks, " What is man, that he should be 
clean ? How can he be clean that is born of a 
woman ? Who can bring a clean thing out of an 
unclean ?" and answers, " Not one." Job xv. 14 ; 
xiv. 4. 

Here he evidently means, not one who is not 
possessed of infinite power. The Chalclee gives 
the correct meaning : " Who will produce a clean 
thing from a man, who is polluted with sins, ex- 
cept God, who is one?" Surely our opponents 
will not deny that the Omnipotent Immanuel can. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 117 

Thus we -see how vain is the effort to enlist the 
holy men of either the Patriarchal or Mosaic dis- 
pensation in the cause of indwelling sin, that they 
may aid in depriving the Christian of the blood- 
bought privilege of "perfecting holiness in the 
fear of God." 


118 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

ANSWERS TO THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST CHRISTIAN PER- 
FECTION DRAWN FROM THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 
AND ST. JAMES. 

THE apostolic writers of the New Testament 
have been urged as opposing the doctrine of Chris- 
tian perfection which we present in these pages. 

I. As Peter, among the rest, has been appealed 
to, let him answer for himself. 

1. When does that apostle plead for Christian 
imperfection and a death-purgatory ? Is it where 
he says, "As he who hath called you is holy, so 
be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Seeing ye 
have purified your souls love one another with 
a pure heart fervently. Christ left us an example 
that ye should follow his steps, who did no sin, 
who bare our sins, that we, being dead to sin, should 
live to righteousness ; forasmuch, then, as Christ 
hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves 
with the same mind ; for he that hath suffered in 


CHEISTIAN PERFECTION. 119 

the flesh hath ceased from sin. The God of all 
grace, after that ye have suffered awhile, make 
you perfect." Had Peter been against our doc- 
trine, is it probable that he would thus have ex- 
cited believers to attain perfection, wishing it them, 
as we wish our flocks the peace of Grod, which 
passeth all understanding ? 

2. If the apostle pleads not for the necessary 
indwelling of sin in his first Epistle, does he in his 
second ? Is it where he says that " exceeding 
great and precious promises are given unto us, that 
by these we might be partakers of the Divine na- 
ture, having escaped the corruption that is in the 
world through lust ?" Is there indwelling sin in 
the Divine nature ? And can those people, whose 
hearts are still full of sin and indwelling pollution, 
be said to have " escaped the corruption that is in 
the world through lust ?" Might not a man, whose 
lungs are still full of dangerous ulcers, be said, with 
as much propriety, to have escaped the misery 
that is in the world through consumption ? Is it 
where Peter describes Christian perfection, and 
exhorts believers to attain it, or to rise higher in 
it, by " adding, with all diligence, to faith, virtue ; 
to virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godli- 
ness, brotherly kindness, charity," the key of the 
arch and the bond of perfection ? Or is it where 


120 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

he bids us " "be diligent that we may "be found of 
God in peace, without spot and blameless?" For 
my part, I do not see here the shadow of a plea 
for the root of every evil in the hearts of be- 
lievers till they die, any more than for the fruit 
of murder, lying, and theft, in their lives till they 
go hence. 

3. But what principally strikes us in this ap- 
peal to St. Peter is, that although he was natur- 
ally led by his subject to speak of the necessary 
indwelling of sin in our hearts during the term of 
life, if that doctrine be true, yet he does not so 
much as drop one hint about it. The design of 
his first Epistle was undoubtedly to confirm be- 
lievers under the fiery trials which their faith 
meets with. " You are kept," says he, " by the 
power of God through faith unto salvation, where- 
in ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season (if 
need be) ye are in heaviness through manifold 
temptations." What a fair opportunity had he 
here to say, without an if need be, " Ye must be in 
heaviness, not only through manifold temptations, 
but also through the remaining corruptions of your 
hearts : the Canaanites and the wild beasts must 
still dwell in the land, to be goads in your sides, 
and thorns in your eyes, or you would grow proud 
and careless. Therefore, until death comes to re- 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 121 

lease you, yonr hearts must Tbe full of indwelling 
sin." On the contrary, lie writes, "Who shall 
harm you, if ye be followers of that which is 
good? Commit your souls unto him in well- 
doing" the very reverse of sinning. " Ye are his 
daughters the daughters of him to whom God 
said, 'Walk before me and be thou perfect' so 
long as ye do tvett, and are not afraid with any 
amazement;" that is, so long as your conduct and 
tempers become the gospel. 

II. As St. Peter so strongly deposes against 
the doctrine of Christian imperfection, let us ex- 
amine whether St. James pleads for Baal in the 
hearts, any more than in the lives, of perfect be- 
lievers. " Let patience," says he, " have her per- 
fect ivorlc, that ye may be perfect and entire, want- 
ing nothing." ""Whoso looketh into the perfect 
law of liberty, and continueth therein,- he, being 
a doer of the work, shall be blessed in his deed." 
And again : " If any man offend not in word, the 
same is a perfect man" " If ye fulfil the royal 
law, according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well; but if ye have 
respect of persons thereby not fulfilling this 
law ye commit sin. For whosoever shall keep 
the whole law, and yet offend i. e., commit sin 
in one point, he is guilty of all. So speak ye and 


122 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of 
liberty." 

It has been objected that St. James himself 
says : " In many things we offend all ;" Jas. iii. 
2 ; and that this abundantly proves that he was a 
strong iniperfectionist. 

[Answer. " Were we to suppose that where he 
appears, by the use of the plural pronoun, to in- 
clude himself, he means to be thus understood, we 
must then grant that, although an inspired apostle, 
he himself was one of those many teachers who 
were to receive greater condemnation, verse 1 : 
that he was a /eorse-breaker, because he said, " ive 
put bits in the horses' mouths that they may obey 
us] verse 3 ; that his tongue was a world of in- 
iquity, and was set on fire of hell, for he says, ' so 
is the tongue among our members,' verse 6 ; that 
he cursed men, where with curse zve men,' verse 9. 
No man, possessing common sense, can imagine 
that James, or any man of even tolerable morals, 
could be guilty of those things. But some of 
those were thus guilty to whom he wrote ; and to 
soften his reproofs, and to cause them to enter the 
more deeply into their hearts, he appears to in- 
clude himself in his own censure ; yet not one of 
his readers would understand him as being a bro- 
ther delinquent, for they knew that it was the 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 123 

common mode of all teachers to include themselves 
in their addresses to their hearers." .Dr. A. Clarke's 
Commentary in locoJ] 

But the interpretation of our opponents is put 
to the blush by the latter part of this very verse, 
which, according to one of the very plainest rules 
of biblical criticism, should be taken in connection : 
" If any man offend not in word, the same is a 
perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole 
body." So certain, therefore, as there are men 
able to bridle their tongues and their whole bodies, 
there are men perfect in the body, perfect before 
death, as here taught by St. James. And there 
can be no good reason assigned why this latter 
remark was introduced, if the fact stated were an 
impossibility. 

But St. James says also, " The spirit that dwell- 
eth in us lusteth to envy." James iv. 5. 

[What has been said in the preceding paragraph 
about James's including himself with his hearers, 
applies with equal force to this, if the passage be 
taken in the sense of our translation. Besides, 
according to the testimony of St. Paul, " Charity," 
which is the spirit that dwelleth in true Christians, 
" envieth not," and the interpretation of our op- 
ponents would bring the apostles in direct colli- 
sion. But one of the most eminent of biblical 


124: CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

critics says, " I think this verse should be under- 
stood as giving a contrary sense to that in our 
translation. Every genuine Christian is. a habita- 
tion of the Holy Grhost, and that spirit, npbg <f)66vov 
KTn-irodsi, excites desires against envy : a man must not 
suppose that he is a Christian if he have an envi- 
ous or a covetous heart."] 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 125 


CHAPTER IX. 

ST. PAUL WAS NOT AN IMPERFECTIONIST. 

PETER and James did not plead more earnestly 
for the glorious liberty of God's children, than 
did Paul. Nay, he professed to have attained 
it, and addressed fathers in Christ as partakers of 
it together with himself. " We speak wisdom," 
says he, " among them that are perfect." 1 Cor. 
ii. 6. " Let us, as many as he perfect, "be thus 
minded." Phil. iii. 15. 

Nor did the Apostle Paul imagine that Chris- 
tian perfection was to be confined to the apostolic 
order, for he wanted all believers to be like him in 
this respect. Hence, he exhorted the Corinthians 
to " perfect holiness in the fear of God ;" 2 Cor. 
vii. 1; to "be perfect;" 2 Cor. xiii. 11; to be 
" perfectly joined, together in the same mind ;" 1 
Cor. i. 10 ; and showed them the perfect, or "more 
excellent way." 1 Cor. xiii. He told the Ephe- 
sians that God " gave pastors for the perfecting of 


126 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

the saints, till all conie, in the unity of the faith, 
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the sta- 
ture of the fulness of Christ." Eph. iv. 12, 13. 
He taught every man that he "might present every ' 
man perfect in Christ Jesus." Col. i. 28. He 
wanted the Colossians fully to " put on charity, 
which is the bond of perfection, that they might 
stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." 
Col. iii. 14; iv. 12. He would have the "man 
of God perfect, thoroughly furnished to every good 
work." 2 Tim. iii. 17. He exhorted his converts, 
" whether they did eat, or drink, or do any thing 
else, to do all to the glory of God, and in the name 
of the Lord Jesus; rejoicing evermore, praying 
without ceasing, and in every thing giving thanks ;" 
that is, he exhorted them to walk according to the 
strictest rules of Christian perfection. 1 Thess. 
v. 16, 17, 18. He blamed the Hebrews for being 
such as "have need of milk, and not of strong 
meat," observing that strong meat -" sari reheiuv 
belongeth to them that are perfect, even to them 
who, by reason of use or experience have 
their spiritual senses exercised to discern both 
good, and evil." Heb. v. 12, etc. He begins the 
next chapter by exhorting them to " go on to per- 
fection," intimating that if they did not, they 
might insensibly fall away, " put the Son of God 
to an open shame, and not be renewed again to re- 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 127 

pentance." And he concludes the whole Epistle 
by a pathetic wish that the " peace of God would 
keep them perfect in every good work to do his 
will." Hence, it appears that it would not be less 
unreasonable to set St. Paul upon "crucifying 
Christ afresh/' than to make him attack" Christ's 
well-known doctrine, " Be ye morally perfect 
according to your narrow capacity and bounded 
power- even as your Heavenly Father is mor- 
ally perfect" in his infinite nature and bound- 
less Godhead. Matt. v. 48. 

The objectors to our doctrine suppose it absurd, 
notwithstanding these pointed declarations, to re- 
present St. Paul as a perfectionist, because he 
says, " Not as though I had already attained, or 
were already perfect." Phil. iii. 12. This objec- 
tion is fully answered by the following statements : 

God alone is absolutely perfect; yet all his 
works are perfect in their kind. Every sort of 
organic being is perfect, that is, perfectly adapted 
to its intended sphere. Yet each differs in its per- 
fection. [From the diminutive mushroom to the 
mountain oak ; from the poisonous tobacco seed to 
the most delicious fruit; from the minutest ani- 
malcule to the monster leviathan, all justify their 
Maker when, in reviewing his works, he pro- 
nounced them "all good," or perfect; for how 
could He have pronounced them so emphatically 


128 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

good except they liad been perfect?] So, also, 
we find angels and glorified saints perfect in their 
sphere ; perfect devils and damned spirits, that is, 
spirits perfectly diabolical in all their attributes ; 
perfect sinners, that is, men altogether sinful in 
their nature. And why, we ask, exclude the 
Christian, as the only being in the universe of 
God's creation totally unworthy to enter this list 
of perfect beings, especially as he is confessedly 
the object of God's peculiar care ? 

Again : All intelligent beings are morally per- 
fect in proportion to their powers and light, unless 
perverted ; the moral, as well as the natural, ad- 
mitting of different degrees of perfection. The 
Scriptures all along present teachings and facts in 
support of this view. Enoch, in the gloomy dawn 
of spiritual light, was so perfect, that the inspired 
writer declares that he " walked with God, and 
was not, for God took him." So Noah was " per- 
fect in his generation ;" and Job, too, was "per- 
fect ;" yet no one supposes that, with their light, 
they had reached such heights on the mountains 
of holiness as were occupied by Elijah, or, in a 
still subsequent age, by Isaiah, from which his 
rapt vision caught the glowing rays that poured 
forth from the "excellent glory" of the coming 
kingdom of Messiah ; yet the perfection of John 
the Baptist, as he approached still nearer to a com- 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 129 

prehension of the wondrous scheme of redemption, 
far surpassed theirs ; for Christ himself declares 
that John was greater had attained a higher per- 
fection than any man who had ever preceded 
him. And still the perfection which was John's 
prerogative was far inferior to that which should 
be the privilege of the humblest Christian, during 
the full dispensation of the Spirit. 

None, we presume, will pretend to dispute that 
the moral power which would arm a man for de- 
liberate submission to years of imprisonment and 
to a death of torture and ignominy, and would in- 
spire him, in the midst of all this, to raise an ex- 
ulting song of triumph over his sufferings, is more 
excellent more perfect than that which would 
enable a man to " fulfil all righteousness" in the 
discharge of all the ordinary duties of Christian 
life. Nor will it, we suppose, be denied that the 
perfection of a saint in glory surpasses the per- 
fection of a saint on earth. 

With these considerations before us, we see no 
discrepancy in the apostle's profession of perfec- 
tion verse 15 and in his declaration that he 
was not yet perfect verse 12. His own words, 
slightly paraphrased, are : " Yea, doubtless, and I 
count all things but loss for the excellency of the 

knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord that I may 
5 


130 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

know him and the power of his resurrection and 
the fellowship of his sufferings, .being made con- 
formable unto his death ; if, by any means, I might 
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. For 
though I have long since been dead to sin, and 
have attained the moral perfection of Christianity, 
yet I earnestly desire that other perfection of suf- 
fering, of martyrdom, and of a glorious resurrec- 
tion; for I wish my body, as well as my soul, to 
be perfectly prepared for the highest enjoyments in 
heaven. I would not be understood to speak as 
though I had already attained the full knowledge 
of these things, or were already, as was my Master, 
* perfect through suffering ;' but I follow after, if 
I may apprehend that for the attainment of which 
I am apprehended by Christ. Brethren, I count 
not myself to have apprehended, or gotten posses- 
sion of this perfection of suffering ; but this one 
thing I do forgetting those sufferings and trials 
that are behind, lest, through weakness of the flesh, 
I faint by the way, and reaching forth, with in- 
tensely earnest desire, unto those things which are 
before, even to martyrdom itself I press towards 
this mark for the prize the subsequent crown 
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let 
us, therefore, as many as be perfect in faith and 
love, be thus minded to suffer if need be, to 


CHEISTIAN PERFECTION. 131 

die for the cause of Christ, excited lay a holy am- 
bition to obtain as bright a crown as we can in 
heaven." 

It is further urged that the apostle of the Gen- 
tiles was a strong opposer of the doctrine of Chris- 
tian perfection, because he says : " The flesh lust- 
eth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the 
flesh, so that ye cannot do the things that ye 
would." Gal. Y. 17. And the conclusion is drawn 
from these words, that so long as we dwell in 
bodies of corruptible flesh, we cannot help break- 
ing the law of liberty at least, from time to time 
by sinful lusts. 

[The true meaning of this passage cannot, pro- 
bably, be more clearly set forth than in the fol- 
lowing collation of all that the apostle has said in 
this Epistle directly on this subject : 

" I marvel that ye are so soon removed from 
him that called you into the grace of Christ unto 
another gospel. 0, foolish Galatians, who hath 
bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth? 
Are ye so 'foolish ? Having begun in the Spirit, 
are ye now made perfect by the flesh? But after 
that ye have known God, or rather are known of 
him, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly 
elements ? Where, then, is the blessedness ye 
spake of? My little children, of whom I travail 
in birth again till Christ be formed in you, I stand 


132 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

in doubt of you, lest I have bestowed labor on you 
in vain. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, 
and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are con- 
trary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do 
the things that ye would ; for ye are fallen from 
grace. Who did hinder you that ye did not obey 
the truth ? Be not deceived. God is not mocked. 
For he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh 
reap corruption ; and they that do such things 
as the works of the flesh shall not inherit the 
kingdom of God. This I say, then, Walk in the 
Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. 
For they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, 
with the affections and lusts so that sin shall 
not have dominion over them. Rom. vi. 14. 
Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am. God forbid 
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto 
rne, and I unto the world. For I am crucified 
with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but 
Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live, I 
live by faith of the Son of God." Gal. i. 6 ; in". 
1, 3; iv. 9, 15, 19, 11; v. 17, 4, 7; vi. 7, 8; v. 
21, 16, 24 ; iv. 12 ; vi. 14 ; ii. 20.] 

From these passages it is perfectly clear : 
1. That he was addressing a Church that lived 
far below the full privileges of adult Christians ; 
and that he was urging them to leave their state 


CHEISTIAN PERFECTION. 133 

of spiritual infancy and carnal subjection, and at- 
tain a state of spiritual advancement, in which the 
flesh, i. e., the sources of sinful affections and lusts, 
being crucified, Avould be powerless for their spi- 
ritual detriment, and they would, consequently, be 
no more subdued and controlled by that which 
was dead. 

2. What was peculiarly suited to them, while 
in this state, cannot be considered the measure 
of attainment of all Christians, however devoted 
to the cause of Christ ; for it is evidently wrong 
to judge of the experience of spiritual adults by 
that of these "carnal little children," well-nigh 
destitute, as we may conclude from, the apostle's 
language, of spiritual life. 

3. The context fully sustains our interpreta- 
tion of this passage, and as fully refutes that 
which we oppose. 

[4. If this verse contains the experience of 
all Christians, then none can reach heaven. For, 
says the apostle, after enumerating the "works 
of the flesh" which "lusteth against the Spirit," 
"they that do such things shall not inherit the 
kingdom of Grod." Verse 21.] 

5. The design of the Epistle is very evidently 
to free the Gralatians from the corrupting influ- 
ences of their self-constituted, judaizing teachers, 
who led them into the indulgence of acts and 


134 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

tempers opposed to the works of the Spirit and 
the commands of Christ. This effect would have 
been completely thwarted by the advancement of 
such a sentiment as our opponents suppose this 
passage to inculcate. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 135 


. CHAPTER X. 

ST. PAUL NOT AN IMPERFECTIONIST CONTINUED. 

IT is further objected that "the doctrine of 
Christian imperfection is not rested so much upon 
the experience of the Galatians as that of Paul 
himself, who, in Horn, vii., frankly acknowledges 
that he was still a ( wretched, carnal man, sold 
under sin, and serving with the flesh the law of 
sin.' It is, then, presumption to aspire after more 
perfection and a greater freedom from sin on earth 
than had been attained by St. Paul, who was ' not 
a whit behind the very chiefest of the apostles, 
but labored more abundantly than they all.' " 

[1. We have seen in the preceding chapter that 
Paul professed Christian perfection. And his dis- 
courses, writings, and life justify the profession, 
and approve it; for perfect repentance, perfect 
faith, and perfect love, such as he describes in 1 
Cor. xiii., characterized his whole course : in other 
words, he showed himself to be a perfect Chris- 


136 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

tian. If, then, the seventh of Romans does not 
mean something else, it clearly contradicts the pro- 
fession and life of the apostle. 

2. " The apostle often employs the first person 
singular where he is discussing general principles." 
1 Cor. x. 23, 29, 30. "All things are lawful for 
me, but all things are not expedient; all things are 
lawful for me, but all things edify not. For why 
is my liberty judged of another man's conscience ? 
For if I, by grace, be a partaker, why am I evil 
spoken of for that for which I give thanks ?" See 
also 1 Cor. vi. 12 ; xiii. 11, 13 : Gral. ii. 18, et at., 
scepe. A like perversion of passages, in w r hich 
Paul, in a similar manner, uses the first person 
present, would make him say that he was a liar, 
Horn. iii. 7 ; that he had no charity, 1 Cor. xiii. 
1, 2, etc. 

3. We conclude that, in his animated style, he 
speaks the experience of another, or his own past 
experience. This will yet more abundantly appear 
from the following collation of passages taken from 
the context in chapters vi., vii. and viii., and includ- 
ing the disputed passage, in which a direct anti- 
thesis is clearly manifest ; showing, in the first 
column, the unconverted man struggling, through 
conviction of sin, for the light and power to relieve 
him. from its slavery ; in the second we perceive 
him, after being freed from its dominion, exulting in 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


137 


his liberty. The relative power of the law, in the 
first column, and of the gospel, in the second, to 
rectify and sanctify the human heart, is also 
shown : 


" For when we were in the 
flesh, the motions of sin, which 
were by the law, did work in our 
members to bring forth fruit unto 
death. But sin, taking occasion by 
the commandment, wrought in me 
all manner of concupiscence. For 
I was alive without the law once; 
but when the commandment came, 
sin revived, and I died ; and the 
commandment which was ordain- 
ed unto life, I found to be unto 
death. For sin, taking occasion 
by the commandment, deceived 
me, and by it slew me. 

" I am carnal, sold under sin. 
For that which I do, I allow net; 
for what I would, that I do not, 
but what I hate, that do I. For I 
know that in me, that is, in my 
flesh, dwelleth no good thing ; for 
to will is present with me, but 
how to perform that which is good, 
I find not. For the good that I 
would, I do not, but the evil that 
I would not, that do I. Now if I 
do that I would not, it is no more 
I that do it, but sin that dwelleth 
in me. I find, then, a law that 
when I would do good, evil is pre- 
sent with me. For I delight in 
the law of God after the inward 


"Wherefore, my brethren, ye 
also are become dead to the law, 
by the body of Christ that we 
should bring forth fruit unto God. 
But now we are delivered from 
the law, that being dead wherein 
we were held, that we should serve 
God in newness of the spirit, and 
not in the oldness of the letter. 


"For God be thanked that 
though ye were the servants of 
sin, ye have obeyed from the 
heart that form of doctrine that 
was delivered you. Being then 
made free from sin, ye became 
servants of righteousness, and 
having now become servants of 
God, ye have your fruit \\nto holi- 
ness, and the end everlasting life ; 
for when ye were^the servants of 
sin sold tinder sin ye were free 
from righteousness. The law of 
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 
hath made me free from the law 
of sin and death, that the right- 
eousness of the law might, be fat- 


138 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


man my reason and my con- 
science fully approve it tout I 
see another law in my members, 
warring against the law of my 
mind, bringing me into captivity 
to the law of sin which is in my 
members. 

"0 wretched man that I am, 
who shall deliver me from the 
body of this death ? For I am 
carnal. But they that are after 
the flesh, do mind the things of 
the flesh. For to be carnally- 
minded is death, because the car- 
nal mind is enmity against God, 
for it is not subject to the law of 
God, neither indeed can be. So, 
then, they that are in the flesli 
cannot please God, for if ye live 
after the flesh ye shall die." 
Rom. vii. 5, 8-11, 14, 15, 18-24; 
viii. 5-8, 13. 


filled in us, who walk not after the 
flesh, but after the Spirit. 


"I thank God, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord I shall be deliv- 
ered. There is, therefore, now 
no condemnation to them that are 
in Christ Jesus. They that are 
after the Spirit do mind the things 
of the Spirit. But to be spirit- 
ually-minded is life and peace. 
#ut ye are not in the flesh, but in 
the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit 
of God dwell in you. Therefore 
we are debtors, not to the flesh to 
live after the flesh. But if ye, 
through the Spirit, do mortify 
the deeds of the flesh, ye shall 
live." Rom. vii. 4, 6 ; vi. 17, 18, 
22, 20; viii. 2; vii. 25; viii. 1, 
5, 6, 9, 12, 13. 


We give the following extracts, as irresistibly 
conclusive, from one of the most eminent biblical 
critics of the age, who is an opponent of the doc- 
trine of Christian perfection as he understands it : 

" Now k) what special end of the apostle would 
it here be subservient, if we suppose 'him to be 
describing a state of grace, in chapter vii. ? How 
does the contest in the breasts of Christians 
against sin, prove the inefficacy of the Imv to sane- 


CHRISTIAN PE11FECTION. 139 

tify them? For to prove such an inefficacy, it 
must be admitted, is the general object of the 
present discourse. The fact is, that such a state- 
ment would prove too much. It would show that 
grace is wanting in efficacy, as well as the latv ; 
for the Christian, being a subject of grace, and 
still keeping up such a contest, one might of 
course be tempted to say : e It appears, then, that 
grace is no more ' competent than law to subdue 
sin and sanctify the heart.' And, indeed, "why 
might he not say this, if the ground of all those 
who construe this of the regenerate man be cor- 
rect? For what is the real state of the whole 
matter as represented by the apostle ? It is, that 
in every contest here between the flesh and the 
Spirit the moral man the former conies off vic- 
torious. And can this be a regenerate state ? Is 
this the ' victory which is of God, and overcometh 
the world ?' e He that is born of God sinneth 
not ;' those that love his law ' do no iniquity ;' he 
that loveth Christ ' keepeth his commandments ;' 
that is, a habitual and voluntary offender such a 
one is not ; he gives not himself up to any course 
of sin ; it is his habitual study and effort to sub- 
due his passions and obey the commandments of 
God. But what of all this is there in the case 
which the apostle presents in vii. 14-25 ? Read 
now chapter *viii. 1-17, and then ask, Is the 


140 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

man described in vii. 14-25, who yields in every 
instance to the assault of his passions, and suffers 
them continually to triumph over law, conscience., 
and every other consideration, such a man, or the 
same man, as is described In viii. 1-17? In this 
latter passage the man is described, 'who walks 
NOT after the flesh, but after the Spirit.' Can this, 
then, be the same man who does walk after the 
flesh, and alwaj r s does this, even when the voice 
of Grod and conscience are thundering in his ears, 
and his own internal moral nature is warning him 
against the course he pursues ? Impossible. Light 
and darkness are not more diverse than these two 
cases. 

" The transition which is represented as tak- 
ing place, at the close of chapter vii. and the 
commencement of chapter viii., most wonder- 
fully exhibits this. Here is, indeed, a wonder- 
ful transition : one from a state of captivity to 
the law of sin and death, to a state of freedom 
from both, to the enjoyment of the glorious 
liberty of the children of God. But if the 
contest in chapter vii. 1425 is meant for one 
which is only in the breast of the regenerate; then 
into what state does he go, or what is the condi- 
tion of him, who makes the transition represented 
in chapter viii.? The only answer which can be 
made seems to bo, that it is from a state of strug- 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 141 

gling with sin, to a state in which there is no 
struggle with it. Such a transition., then, in this 
case, [he speaks here as opposed to the doctrine of 
Christian perfection,] is utterly improbable ; and, 
therefore, cannot be admitted." Stuart's Com- 
mentary on Romans, in loco, p. 325. 

" The most ancient fathers of the Church, with- 
out a dissenting voice, so far as we have any means 
of ascertaining their views, were united in the be- 
lief that an unregenerate, unsanctified person is 
described in Rom. vii. 525. And (so far as I 
know) all the evangelical commentators of the pre- 
sent time on the continent of Europe, most of the 
Episcopal Church, also, for many years, and not a 
few of the Scotch, Dutch, and English Presbyterian 
and Congregational divines, have adopted the same 
interpretation. I cannot but believe that the time 
is not far distant when there will be but one opinion 
among intelligent Christians about the passage in 
question ; as there was but one before the dispute 
of Augustin with Pelagius." Ib., Com. Rom., 
Excursus on Rom. vii. 5-25, p. 627. 

The same view is sustained by Dr. Doddridge, 
in his " Lectures on Divinity."] 

If the sense which our opponents give to Rom. 
vii. 14-25, be true, the doctrine of Christian per- 
fection is a dream, and our utmost attainment on. 
earth is St. Paul's apostolic carnality , and involun- 


142 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

tary servitude to the law of sin, with a hopeful 
prospect of deliverance in a death-purgatory. It 
is, therefore, of the utmost importance to establish 
our exposition of that passage against the argu- 
ments that are supposed to favor the interpretation 
given to it l>y our opponents. 

Argument I. " St. Paul says to the Corinthians : 
' I write not to you as to spiritual men, "but as to 
carnal, even as to babes in Christ.' Now, if the 
Corinthians could be at once holy, and yet carnal, 
wiry could not St. Paul be, at the same time, an 
eminent apostolic saint, and a carnal, wretched 
man, sold under sin ?" 

Answer 1. The Corinthians were bv no means 

V 

established believers in general; for the apostle 
concludes his last Epistle to them, by bidding them 
" examine themselves whether they were in the 
faith." 

2. If St. Paul proved carnal still, and was to 
continue so till death, with all the body of Christian 
believers, why did he upbraid the Corinthians .with 
their unavoidable carnality ? Why did he wonder 
at it, and say : " Ye are yet carnal ; for whereas 
there is yet among you envyings and strife, etc., 
are ye not carnal?" Might not these carnal 
Corinthians have justly replied, Carnal physician, 
heal thyself? 

3. In the language of the apostle, to be carnal. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 143 


to be carnally-minded, to walJc after the flesh, not to 
walk after the Spirit, and to be in the flesh, are 
phrases of the same import. This is evident from 
Rom. vii. 14 ; viii. 1-9 : and he says indirectly, 
that to those who are in such a state there is 
" condemnation," that " they cannot please God/' 
and that they are in a state of death, because to 
be "carnal," or "carnally-minded, is death." Rom, 
viii. 1, 68. Now, if he was carnal himself, does 
it not follow that he " could not please God," and 
that he was in a state of "condemnation and 
death ?" But how does this agree with the pro- 
fession which he immediately makes of being " led 
by the Spirit, of walking in the Spirit, and of 
being made free from the law of sin and death by 
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus ?" 

4. "We do not deny that the remains of the carnal 
mind still cleave to imperfect Christians, and that 
when the expression carnal is softened and quali- 
fied, it may, in a low sense, be applied to such 
professors as those Corinthians were to whom St. 
Paul said : " I could not speak to you as to spir- 
itual." But could not the apostle yet be spoken 
to as a spiritual man? And does he not allow 
that even in the corrupted churches of Corinth and 
Galatia there were some truly spiritual men some 
adult, perfect Christians ? See 1 Cor. xiv. 37, and 
Gal. vi. 1. 


144 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

5. When the apostle calls the divided Corinth- 
ians carnal, he immediately softens the expres- 
sion by adding, " babes in Christ." If, therefore, 
the word carnal be applied to St. Paul in this 
sense, it must follow that the apostle was but a 
" babe in Christ ;" and if he was but a babe, is it 
not as absurd to judge of the growth of adult 
Christians by his growth, as to measure the stature 
of a man by that of an infant ? 

[6, and last. " The man described in Rom. vii. 
14, is not only called carnal without any soften- 
ing, qualifying phrase, but the word carnal is im- 
mediately heightened by an uncommon expression : 
"sold under sin," i. e., " f a bond slave to sin, and 
wholly devoted to his service, and obedient to his 
orders.' Stronger language than this cannot well 
be found in the New Testament." * 

Thus reason, Scripture, and criticism agree to 
set this argument aside.] 

Argument II. " The carnal man whose cause 
we plead, says Rom. vii. 20. l If I do that I 
would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin 
which dwelleth in me,' i. e., in my unrenewed part ; 
and, therefore, he might be an eminent, apostolic 
saint in his renewed part, and a carnal, wretched 
man in his UNRENEWED part" 

* Stuai-t on Romans, p. 019. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 145 

Answer 1. The apostle speaks as a carnal, yet 
awakened sinner, who has light enough to see his 
sinful habits, but not faith and resolution enough 
to overcome them. His meaning is evidently this : 
If I, as a carnal man, do what I, as an awakened 
man, would not, it is no more I that do it- that is, I 
do not do it according to my awakened conscience, 
for my conscience rises against my conduct lut it 
is sin that dwelleth in me; it is the tyrant sin, that 
has full possession of me, as his slave, and minds 
the dictates of my conscience no more than an 
inexorable task-master minds the cries of an op- 
pressed slave. 

2. If the pure love of God was shed abroad in 
St. Paul's heart, and constrained 'him, he dwelt in 
love, and, of consequence, in God ; for St. John 
says : " He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, 
and God in him : He that is in you is greater than 
he that is in the world." Now, if God dwelt in 
Paul by his loving Spirit, it becomes our objectors 
to show that an 'indivelling God and indwelling sin 
are one and the same thing ; or that the apostle 
had strangely altered his doctrine when he asked 
with indignation, " What concord hath Christ with 
Belial ?" For if indwelling sin, the Belial within, 
was necessary to nestle with Christ in Paul's 
heart, and in the hearts of all believers, should not 


146 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

the apostle rather have cried out with admiration : 
" See how great is the concord between Christ and 
Belial! They are inseparable! They always 
live so intimately together in the same heart, that 
nothing ever parts them but death, that severs all 
earthly ties !" 

3. If reluctance to serve the law of sin be proof 
that we are holy, is there not joy in heaven over 
the apostolic holiness of most robbers and mur- 
derers in the country ? Can they not sooner or 
later say : " With my mind., or conscience, I serve 
the law of God; hit with my flesh, the ICMV of sin. 
Hoiv to perform what is good, I find not. I should 
be honest, if it were not for the powerful inclina- 
tion that I feel to act dishonestly, by which I am. 
completely overcome. .- But I find a laiv that when 
I would do good, evil is present ^vith me" 

[4, and finally. Philosophy denies, and the 
Scriptures confirm, the denial, that man's moral 
being is constituted of two totally diverse natures : 
that he may, at the same time, 'be right, and not 
right ; that he may, at once, serve God, and not 
serve him. ; that he may love him while he hates 
him. Yet such must be the case, if the argument 
which we consider be A^alid.] 

Argument III. " The man whose experience is 
described in Rom. vii. is said to ' delight in the 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 147 

law of God after the inward man, and to serve the 
law of God with the mind ;' therefore, he was 
partaker of apostolic holiness." 

Answer. But he also says ; : "With the flesh I 
serve the law of sin." What else could Medea 
have meant, when, about to imbrue her hands in 
innocent blood, she cried out : " My mind my 
reason and conscience leads me one way, but my 
new, impetuous passion urges me another, against 
my will : I see the right and I approve it, and yet 
I pursue the wrong ?" Did not Herod hear the 
'word of God ^w<r" with delight," and "did 
many things," too ; Mark vi. 20 ; [and then, in cold 
blood, murder the minister of God from whom he 
had heard it ?] But is this proof that either Herod 
or Medea had attained apostolic holiness ? [We 
would rather ask, What stronger evidence could 
be adduced of a totally corrupt nature the law 
of God, the force of enlightened reason, the urgent 
pleadings of conscience, coupled with fear of pun- 
ishment and forfeiture of future happiness, all 
impelling to the right, and yet the inclination to 
do wrong completely triumphing over all ? How, 
then, can it apply to the chief of the apostles ?] 

Argument IY. " The person who describes his 
unavailing struggles under the power of sin cries 
out at last, i Who shall deliver me,' etc., and im- 
mediately expresses a hope of future deliverance, 


148 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

thanking God for it, through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Does not this show that the carnal man, 
sold under sin, was a Christian believer, and, of 
consequence, Paul himself?" 

Answer. [Is it any uncommon thing to see a 
man whose reason is convinced that salvation is 
through Christ alone, and who in an awakened 
state earnestly desires it through him, before hav- 
ing obtained it ? "A person sick of a fever," says 
Whitefield on this subject, "may desire to be in 
health, but that desire is not health itself." But 
could he ever obtain salvation without such pre- 
vious experience ? Has he not the faith that de- 
sires salvation before that which brings it ? And 
when does he feel his depravity and guilt more 
sensibly than when on the threshold of saving 
faith? At "first, he thanks God for anticipated 
deliverance ; after that he " thanks God who giveth 
him the victory," since " the law of the Spirit of 
life in Christ Jesus has made him free from the 
law of sin and death."] 

Argument V. " The apostle's plain confession 
shows that he was really carnal and sold under 
sin. For he says to the Corinthians that there 
was i given him a thorn in the flesh, a messen- 
ger of Satan to buffet him, lest he should be ex- 
alted above measure by the abundance of the 
revelations which had been vouchsafed him.' 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 149 

2 Cor. xii. 7. Now, what could this thorn in the 
flesh be, but a sinful lust ? And what this c mes- 
senger of Satan/ but pride or immoderate desire ? 
Thrice he besought the Lord that these plagues 
might depart from him, but God would not hear 
him. Indwelling sin was to keep him humble. 
And if St. Paul stood in need of that remedy, 
how much more do we !" 

Answer 1. There is an entire destitution of 
evidence to establish this bare conjecture. The 
facts and probabilities are against it. Tertullian 
and Chrysostom inform us that the apostle was 
greatly afflicted with violent attacks of headache 
and extreme weakness ; and it is of these that we 
understand the " thorn in the flesh and the mes- 
senger of Satan to buffet him," i. e., his physical 
infirmities. In like manner was Satan permitted 
to afflict Job ; and to " bind a daughter of Abra- 
ham with a spirit of -physical infirmity for 
eighteen years." This was probably the cause of 
that " weakness of bodily presence," and that 
" contemptibleness of speech" 2 Cor. x. 10 
which gave occasion to his adversaries at Corinth 
to take undue advantage of him, and thereby they 
constituted themselves the " messengers of Satan 
to buffet him ;" for these may be what he means 
by this phrase. 

[But there are numerous other hypotheses, any 


150 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

one of which is more probable than this which 
palms off on St. Paul an insuperable corruption, 
in the .midst of his highest professions of holiness. 
Among these are, >tnat his "^thorn in the flesh" was 
"a form of hypochondria, accompanied by a para- 
lysis of the muscles of one side of the face, that 
caused an uncomely distortion of his countenance ; 
or that it was stone or gravel ; or, finally, that it 
was a disease of his eyes. This last view is sup- 
ported by the facts that he required a travelling 
companion to accompany him. in all his journeyings j 
that the services of an amanuensis were requisite 
when he would write an Epistle ; that when he did 
write one with his own hand, though requiring the 
application of but a few hours, it was a matter of 
so extraordinary exertion that it called forth the 
exclamation, " See how large a letter I have writ- 
ten unto you with mine own hand !" Gal. vi. 11. 
And what additional emphasis does this idea give 
to the passage in Gal. iv. 1315 : "Ye know how, 
through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel 
unto you at the first. And my temptation, which 
ivas in my flesh., ye despised not, neither rejected; 
but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ 
Jesus. Where is, then, the blessedness ye spake 
of? For I bear you record that, if it had been 
possible, ye would have plucked out your own 
eyes, and have given them to me."] 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 151 

2. Paul says : " There was given me a thorn in 
the flesh, lest I he exalted above measure for the 
abundance of the revelations," etc. They were 
not indwelling sin, then ; for indwelling sin was not 
given him after his visions, seeing it stuck fast in 
him long before he went to Damascus. It is absurd, 
then, to say that God gave him the thorn of in- 
dwelling sin afterwards, or, indeed, that he gave it 
to him at all. 

3. Indwelling anger keeps us angry, not meek ; 
indwelling pride keeps us proud, not humble ; and 
indwelling lust keeps us lustful, and not self- 
denying and temperate in all things. The child 
is as the parent. A salt fountain will not send 
forth fresh water. 

4. While trying to make him out a modest im- 
perfectionist, this argument represents Paul as an 
impudent Antinomian ; for, speaking of his " thorn 
in the flesh," and of these " buffetings of Satan's 
messenger," he calls them, his infirmities; and says : 
" Most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my in- 
firmities" Now, if his infirmities were pride, a 
wrathful disposition, and if filthy lust, did he -not 
act the part of a filthy Antinomian, when he said 
that he "gloried in them?" "Would not even 
Paul's carnal man have blushed to speak thus ? 
Far from glorying in his pride, wrath, or indwell- 


152 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

ing lust, did he not groan, " wretched man that 
I am ?" 

5. The apostle, still calling these things his in- 
firmities, explains himself further in these words : 
"Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in re- 
proaches, in persecutions, etc., for Christ's sake ; 
for when I am weak, then am I strong. Christ's 
strength is made perfect in my weakness." That 
thorn, those buffetings, cannot, then, be indwelling 
sin, or any outbreakings of it ; for the devil him- 
self could do no more than take pleasure in his wick- 
edness ; and in Rom. vii. the carnal penitent himself 
" delights in the law of God after the inward man ;" 
instead of taking pleasure in his indwelling sin. 

Argument VI. " St. Luke informs us that the 
contention TTapogvopog was so sharp between Bar- 
nabas and Paul, that they departed asunder, the 
one from the other. Acts xv. 39. Now charity, 
ov KapogvveTai, is not provoked, does not contend. 
Strife or contention is one of the fruits of the flesh; 
and if St. Paul bore that fruit, I do not see why 
you should scruple to call him a carnal, wretched 
man, sold under sin." 

We grant directly that if Paul acted uncharita- 
bly, he then fell from Christian perfection ; for a 
man perfected in love may fall, back from. his high 
estate, and then recover it again. But this was 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 153 

not the apostle's case. For every contention is 
not sinful. The apostle says himself : " Contend 
for the faith." " Be angry and sin not." " It is 
good to be zealously aifected always in a good 
thing." Jesus Christ did not break the law of 
love when he looked around with anger on the 
Pharisees, " being grieved for the hardness of their 
hearts." There is not the least intimation of 
Paul's having sinned in this affair. From the cir- 
cumstances, there is not the slightest proof that 
Paul, in this matter, stained his perfection ; for, by 
every rule of right, it was proper for him to refuse 
to take with him again, as a fellow-traveller and 
co-worker, one who had previously, in a cowardly 
manner, deserted them in the midst of labor and 
danger, and to insist upon it, so far as to refuse 
the companionship of Barnabas for some one else 
as good, rather than take along one who, he knew 
from painful experience, could not be depended 
upon. 


154 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


CHAPTER, XI. 

ST. PAUL IS A STRONG ADVOCATE OF CHRISTIAN PER- 
FECTION. 

IF St. Paul's professed spirituality not only 
clears him of the carnality with which he is 
charged, but demonstrates the truth of our doc- 
trine, we will present from his genuine, undoubted 
experiences, Avhen he " taught wisdom, among the 
perfect," a picture of the perfect Christian drawn 
at full length. It is a portrait of St. Paul, painted 
by himself, before the mirror of evangelical sin- 
cerity, with the pencil of a good conscience, and 
colors mixed by the Spirit of truth. Behold it, 
and admire ! 

"Be followers of me. This one thing I do: 
leaving the things that are behind, I press toward 
the mark for the prize of the heavenly calling a 
crown of glory. Charity is the bond of perfection. 
Love is the fulfilling of the law. If I have not 
charity, I am nothing." And what charity or love 


CHRISTIAN PEKFECTION. 155 

St. Paul had, appears from Christ's words, and 
from his own. " Greater i. e., more perfect 
love hath no man than this/' says our Lord, "that 
he lay clown his life for his friends." Now this 
love St. Paul had for Christ and for souls, yea, 
for the souls of even his fiercest adversaries, the 
Jews. Hear him : " The love of Christ constrain- 
eth us. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. 
I long to depart, and to be with Christ. I count 
not my life dear unto myself, that I may finish 
my course with joy. I am ready not to be bound 
only, but to die also for the name of the Lord Je- 
sus. If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service 
of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with -you all." 
And in the next chapter but one to that in which the 
apostle is supposed to profess himself actually 
" sold under sin," he professes perfect love to his 
sworn enemies ; even that love by which " the 
righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them who 
walk after the Spirit." Hear him : " I say the 
truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also 
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I could 
wish that myself were accursed, i. e., made a curse, 
dnb xpiarov, after the example of Christ, for my 
kinsmen according to the flesh ;" meaning his 
inexorable, bloody persecutors, the Jews. 

Nor was this love of Paul like a land-flood ; it 
constantly flowed like a river. This living water 


156 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

sprang up continually in his soul. Witness these 
words : " Remember that by the space of three 
years, I ceased not to warn every one, night and 
day, with tears. Of many I have told you often, 
and now tell you, even weeping, that they mind 
earthly things ; for our conversation is in heaven. 
Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of a good con- 
science, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not 
with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we 
have had our conversation in the world. I know 
nothing i. <?., no evil by or of myself. We 
can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. 
Whether we are beside i. e., carried out beyond 
ourselves, it is to God ; or whether we be sober 
i. e., calm it is for your cause i. e., the love, of 
God and man is the source of all my tempers. 
Giving no offence in any thing, but in all things 
approving ourselves as ministers of God, in much 
patience, by pureness, by kindness, by love un- 
feigned ; being filled with comfort, and exceeding 
joyful in all our tribulation. I will gladly spend 
and be spent for you; though the more abund- 
antly I love you, the less I be loved a rare in- 
stance this of the most perfect love ! We speak 
before God in Christ ; we do all things, dearly be- 
loved, for your edifying. I am crucified with 
Christ ; nevertheless I live ; yet not I see here 
the destruction of sinful self! but Christ liveth 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 157 

in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh, I 
live by the faith of the Son of God. As always, 
so now also shall Christ be magnified in my body, 
whether it be by life or by death ; we worship 
God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and 
have no confidence in the flesh. Mark them who 
walk so as ye have ns for an example. I have 
learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be 
content ; everywhere and in all things I am in- 
structed both to abound and to suffer need ; I can 
do all things through Christ who strengthened 
me. Teaching . every man in all wisdom, that I 
may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, 
whereunto also I labor, striving according to the 
working that worketh in me mightily." 

The description of the perfect Christian, and of 
St. Paul, is so exceedingly glorious, and it appears 
to me such a refutation of the mistake which we 
oppose, that I cannot deny myself the pleasure, 
and my readers the edification of seeing the mis- 
represented apostle give his own lovely picture a 
few more finishing strokes. " We speak not as 
pleasing men," says he, " but as pleasing God, who 
trieth our hearts. For neither, at any time, used 
we flattering words. God is witness, nor of men 
sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others. 
But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse 
cherisheth her children. Being affectionately de- 


158 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

sirotis of you, we were willing to have imparted 
unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also 
our own souls, laboring night and day, -because we 
would not be chargeable to any of you. Ye are 
witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, 
and unblamabty we behaved ourselves among you. 
The Lord make you abound in love one toward 
another, even as we do toward you. Thou hast 
fully known my manner of life, purpose, faith, 
long-suffering, charity, patience. I have kept the 
faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown 
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
Judge, shall give me in that day." 

When I read this wonderful description of 
St. Paul written by himself, and see his doc- 
trine of Christian perfection so gloriously exem- 
plified in his own tempers and conduct, I am 
surprised that good men should still confound 
Saul the Jeiv with Paul the Christian ; and should 
take the son of the "earthly Jerusalem, which 
is in bondage with her children," for the son of 
the " Jerusalem from above, which is free, and is 
the mother of us all who stand in the liberty 
wherewith Christ has made us free." In fact, 
it would be easy to show from their writings, 
that the good mistaken men who are most pre- 
judiced against this doctrine, see it, sometimes, 
so true and so excellent, that, forgetting their 


'CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 159 

pleas for indwelling sin, they intimate that our 
daily petition may be answered, and that the " will 
of our Father may be done on earth as it is in 
heaven;" an expression, this, which includes the 
height and depth of all Christian perfection. 


160 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


CHAPTER XII. 

ST. JOHN IS A POWERFUL PLEADER FOR CHRISTIAN PER- 
FECTION. 

ALL agree that it is not right to take a passage 
of Scripture from the context, and to attribute to 
it a meaning entirely inconsistent with it; yet such 
is the way in which 1 John i. 8 is forcibly torn 
from the context, and made tospeak a language 
wholly averse to it, and to the design and gen- 
eral tenor of this Epistle, in order to compel the 
loving apostle to appear in the ranks of the irn- 
perfectionists, and to give in testimony by which 
the life of indwelling sin may be spared in the 
hearts of believers. 

Says the apostle in the passage referred to, "If 
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, 
and the truth is not in us." " St. John here 
clearly pleads," say the imperfectionists, " for the 
indwelling of sin in us during the term of life ; and 
he is so set against those who profess deliverance 


CHKISTIAN PERFECTION. 161 

from sin and Christian perfection in this life, that 
he does not scruple to represent them as liars and 
deceivers. This we think unanswerable." 

I. This interpretation is contrary to the design 
of the Epistle. 

[Different classes of errorists had already in- 
fested the Church, opposed each to the other, and 
each equally opposed to the letter and spirit of 
true Christianity, as presented "by the apostles. 
Some taught that we may Ibe Christians, and yet 
continue in the daily commission of some of the 
grossest sins. Others taught .that we are not such 
gross sinners after all ; that many have lived and 
died without ever having sinned; consequently, 
that they need no such propitiation as Christ was 
represented by the apostles as having made. 
Mainly to meet these two classes of errorists was 
this Epistle written. To suppose him, then, in 
arguing against these Antinomian advocates of 
dwelling sin, in the very start to declare that 
their doctrine was founded in such everlasting 
truth that he who professed the opposite to be his 
experience was a liar of the grossest sort, were to 
suppose him guilty of the unaccountable folly of 
carefully procuring sand for the foundation upon 
1 which to build a most important edifice, providing 
against the possibility of accomplishing any thing 
by his argument before he had even stated it.] 
6 


162 CHEISTIAN PEEFECTION. 


II. The context is no less violated than the de- 
sign of the Epistle. [By slightly transposing the 
context, so as to bring the corresponding passages 
into juxtaposition, withont at all violating the 
meaning and force of any single passage with an 
occasional remark "between dashes we may see 
how completely the context is violated by this in- 
terpretation. 

" If we sav that we have no sin to be atoned 

/ 

for we deceive ourselves, and the truth of the 
gospel is not in us. I mean if we say that we 
have not sinned since we have lived in the world, 
and consequently have no need of propitiation by 
Christ we make him a liar, and his word is not 
in us. If any man sin, we have an advocate with 
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the 
propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but 
also for the sins of the whole world. So then if 
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to for- 
give us our sins, and not only so, but also to 
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He that saith 
that he abideth in him, ought himself also so to 
walk, even as he walked. If we walk in the light 
as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with 
another i. <?., Grod with us and we with Grod and 
the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from 
all sin. And hereby do we know that we know 
him, if we keep his commandments. But whoso 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 163 

keepetli Ms commandments, in him verily is- the 
love of God perfected : hereby know we that we 
are in him. But, little children, these things write 
I unto you that ye sin not so you perceive that 
I do not mean that you must continue in sin ; so 
far from this that I would have you to let the 
time past of your lives suffice to have wrought 
the will of the Gentiles, and to understand that . 
he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his 
commandments 4. e., coinmitteth sin is a liar, 
and the truth is not in him. For whosoever is 
born of God doth not commit sin, but he that com- 
niitteth sin is of the devil, -for the devil sinneth 
from the beginning." Thus easily is the edge of 
this argument turned aside, and the apostle shown 
to wield a powerful sword for the destruction of 
this error. 

If this interpretation of our opponents be true, 
it appears, 1. That the apostle strangely speaks 
against himself in the adjoining verses. 2. None 
are born of God ; all are children of the devil.] 

If it should be alleged that " when John says, 
' the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin,' he 
does not mean all indivellinc/ sin ; because this is a 
sin from which death alone can cleanse us ;" we 
answer, that we demand the proof [that the whole 
does not include all its parts ; for the apostle says 
all sin, of which this statement excludes an essen- 


164 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

tial part. We believe it an unscriptural exception 
to the manifest import of the plainest words ; and 
it cannot be accepted without full proof. 2. The 
reason assigned is clearly a begging of the ques- 
tion giving that as a proof which is required to 
be proved.] 

If it be urged that "the blood of Christ cleanseth 
us indeed from the guilt, but not from the nlthiness 
of sin," we reply, 1. That this is contrary to the 
text which says that "the blood of Christ cleanseth 
us from all sin." 2. This cleansing from all sin is 
suspended upon our "walking in the light" a 
doctrine repugnant equally to Protestantism and 
to Scripture, that is, if it means forgiveness ; for 
all know that they teach that our exercise of faith, 
and not our "walking in the light" i. e., our 
good works is the only condition of pardon. 
3. It is contrary to other scriptures, where cleans- 
ing undoubtedly refers, not to the guilty but to 
the nlthiness of sin. Ezekiel xxxvi. 25 pre- 
sents one out of many instances : " I will sprin- 
kle clean water upon you, and ye shall be 
clean : from, all your filthiness, and from all your 
idols, will I cleanse you." In 2 Cor. vii. 1, 
we have another : " Let us cleanse ourselves from 
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit " a thing that 
it is impossible for us to do, except as described 
by John, Rev. vii. 14 : " These are they that have 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 165 

washed their robes, and made them white in the 
blood of the Lamb" 

When it is asserted that " in the expression be- 
fore us e the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all 
sin' the meaning is not that he radically cleanses 
us, but that it only begets and carries on a cleansing 
from all sin, which cleansing will be completed in 
death;-" we answer, 1. We demand the proof. 
2. This assertion is open to all the above-men- 
tioned difficulties. 3. It overthrows the doctrine 
of the Protestants, who have always maintained 
that nothing is absolutely necessary to eternal 
salvation, ancl, of consequence, to our perfect**' 
cleansing, but an obedient, steadfast faith, appre- 
hending the full virtue of Christ's purifying blood ; 
and to the word of inspiration, which declares 
Acts xv. 9 " G-od, giving them the Holy Ghost, 
put no difference between us and them, purify- 
ing their hearts by faith" not by death. 4. It 
is contrary to matter of fact; Enoch and Elijah 
having been translated to heaven, and, therefore, 
having been perfectly purified even in body, with- 
out having passed through this imperfectionist- 
puvgatory. 5. But what is most objectionable in 
this evasive argument is, that it robs the blood of 
Christ of its sanctifying efficacy, thereby putting 
upon it the greatest contempt. It also puts the 
greatest cheat upon weak believers, who sincerely 


166 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

desire to be now " made perfect in love," that they 
may worthily magnify God's holy name. 

An illustration would here be in place. Sup- 
pose Christ now in this country healing all manner 
of diseases, as formerly in Judea. A benevolent 
person announces the fact to the invalids at the 
hospital. They believe it, and, by what means 
they can, they reach him who is performing the 
wonderful cures. They touch him; he touches 
them ; but there is no cure. A slight, temporary 
relief is experienced by some, but the disease still 
continues. They complain to their supposed bene- 
factor, that he had promised the'in a thorough 
cleansing from their disease. " True," is the re- 
sponse, " but I did not mean that you should be 
radically cleansed from disease, but that he would 
begin and continue the cleansing, and it is vain to 
expect a thorough cure till death interposes. So, 
bear your complaints as patiently as you can, till 
death fully relieves you." Could they go away 
enraptured and satisfied with the rich grace and 
.godlike benevolence of such a physician? 

III. [The whole tenor of this Epistle, so far from 
favoring this strange interpretation put by the op- 
ponents of Christian perfection upon one isolated 
passage, sustains our doctrine as strongly as lan- 
guage can ; so much so that it seems to have been 
a favorite doctrine of the loving apostle, and he 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 167 

seems to have had in view the fullest possible es- 
tablishment of it in all the churches. Strange, 
how prejudice will pervert the plainest language ! 
In connection with what has gone before, we have 
only to look, with an unprejudiced eye, at the 
following collation of passages from other parts 
of this Epistle, to set this matter in the clearest 
light.] 

"He that loveth his brother abideth in the 
light where the blood of Christ cleanseth from 
all sin and there is none occasion of stumbling in 
him. Every one that hath this hope in hiin,j^n- 
fieth himself even as he Christ is pure. Whoso 
coinmitteth sin transgresseth also the law. And 
ye know that he was manifested to take away our 
sins i. e., destroy them root and branch and in 
him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth 
not. Whosoever sinneth doth not properly see 
him, neither know him ; he that doeth righteous- 
ness is righteous, even as he Christ is right- 
eous. For this purpose was the Son of God mani- 
fested, that he might destroy the works of the 
devil i. e., sin in every shape. Whosoever is born 
of Grod whosoever is made partaker of Grod's 
holiness, according to the perfection of the Christian 
dispensation doth not commit sin i. c., doth not 
transgress the law for his seed the ingrafted 
word made quick and powerful by the indwelling 


168 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

Spirit reniaineth in him; and morally speak- 
ing he cannot sin, because he is thus born 
of God. For if ye know that he is right- 
eous, ye know that every one that doeth right- 
eousness is born of him ; and that he that doeth 
not righteousness, he that " cominitteth. sin," or 
transgresseth the law, is, so far, of the devil, for 
the devil transgresseth the law, that is, he sinneth, 
from the beginning. In this the children of God 
are manifest, and the children of the devil ; whoso- 
ever doeth not righteousness i. e., whosoever 
sinneth is not of God/' 1 John iii. 3-11; ii. 29. 
[Add to these strong, unequivocal statements 
the fact that, in this Epistle, John distinctly pro- 
fesses Christian perfection 1 John iv. 17 saying : 
" Herein is our love made perfect, that we may 
have boldness in the day of judgment ; because as 
he Christ is perfect in love, and, of conse- 
quence, without sin so are ^ve in THIS WORLD;" 
and we have the clearest demonstration that the 
Apostle John was very far from favoring the doc- 
trine of the imperfectionists.] 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 169 


CHAPTER XIII. 

A SUMMARY OF THE WHOLE ARGUMENT. 

[HAVING completed our arguments, offensive and 
defensive, and having, as we believe, conclusively 
proved that no doctrine is more clearly taught in 
the inspired volume than that for which we con- 
tend, it now only remains that we present a sum- 
mary of the subject which we have been dis- 
cussing. 

I. There is such a thing taught in the word of 
God, and especially in the New Testament, as 
perfection. This is evident from the instructions 
given by our Lord to his disciples : " Be ye per- 
fect;" Matt. v. 48; and from the doctrine of the 
apostles : " We wish even your perfection." 2 Cor. 
xiii. 9. "Let us go on unto perfection." Heb. 
vi. 1. This is thus rendered too plain to dwell 
longer on it. 

II. It behooves us, then, to ascertain, with be- 
coming humility, from the teachings of God's own 


170 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

book, what this perfection is which he requires of 
us, since the history of the churches has proved 
how easy it is to wander from the right course, 
whenever the eye is even partially withdrawn 
from, that pole-star by the influence of favorite 
theological theories. We are humbly of opinion 
that we have succeeded in finding the happy me- 
dium between an outward perfection of mere 
works that are seen of men, or a self-complacent 
resting in an experience that is far below the deep- 
searching and far-reaching requirements of the law 
of the Holy One, on the one hand; and, on the 
other, the despairing notion that it is something as 
far beyond the reach of the most holy on earth, 
however mightily assisted by Him. " who is able 
to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can 
either ask or think," as the New Jerusalem is 
above the Old. St. Paul says : " If I have not 
love, I am nothing " and a greater than Paul has 
said : " On love hang all the law and the prophets." 
We conclude, then, that perfect love is the perfec- 
tion of Christianity. "The love of God shed 
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto 
us," so as to- rule all our actions, and completely 
subordinate our will to the will of our Father in 
heaven, constitutes the length and breadth, the 
height and depth of the requirements of the Divine 
law ; and, of consequence, he who is under such 


CHEISTIAN PE11FECTION. 171 

influence is a "perfect man in Christ Jesus.' 
Hence, it embraces man's moral faculties, without 
extending, except by their reflex influence, indi- 
rectly and partially, to the intellectual and physi- 
cal. Therefore it does not imply the destruction, 
in any sense, of the appetites, passions, or any 
other essential elements of human nature ; but it 
does require their perfect control in accordance 
with the prohibitions and demands of the Divine 
law ; that is, that they be kept in moderation, and 
not be improperly directed. 

And here we feel constrained to allude to a gross 
error, which many Christians who profes's to be- 
lieve this doctrine have imbibed, greatly to the 
injury of its practical operation. They imagine 
that the emotions of a perfect Christian must be 
always in a state of high religious excitement. 
Without ecstasy, they suppose, there can be no 
perfection. " To be happy" to use their favorite 
phrase for expressing this state is indispensable 
to a high religious experience. Many, we are per- 
suaded, have struggled into the light of perfect 
love, who, not finding a realization of these pre- 
conceived notions, have cast away their confidence 
in despair, or have striven on in useless, if not sin- 
ful, self-condemnation. 

Such a state of constant excitement is surely 
impossible to human nature ; nor do we suppose 


172 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION". 

it, in this life, desirable, as it would unfit us, par- 
tially at least, for the regular duties of our every- 
day vocations. But again : when the rain pours 
from the clouds in mighty abundance, it rushes, at 
first, in impetuous torrents down the mountain's . 
side, roaring as distant thunder ; but approaching 
the plain, it becomes less and less impetuous, as 
it " goes from strength to strength ;" the roaring 
ceases, the dashing waters gather into the placid 
stream, and at length subside into the quiet lake, 
whose depths are undisturbed by the rude gales 
that ruffle its surface. So with the Christian : at 
the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit, he is full of 
ecstasy; as his experience gathers strength and 
depth, the rushing torrent is changed into the 
calmness of the majestic river, or the peaceful 
depth of the limpid lake, from which is reflect- 
ed the resplendent form of his Saviour, as he 
walks quietly over its surface. True, it is at 
times raised into an unusual agitation by the odor- 
ous breezes which bear upon their bosom the 
perfumes of our heavenly Eden. But this, he 
knows, is only an occasional occurrence. He 
looks not on it as the end of his profession, but 
only as one of those seasons of extraordinary joy 
which his gracious Father sends, now and then, to 
cheer his heart along his toiling way. 

III. Many objections have been urged against 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 173 

these plain teachings of the Holy Spirit ; and that, 
too, strange as it may seem, by some of the best 
men that have lived ; many of whom, we doubt 
not, were enjoying at the time the possession of 
this promised heritage. We account for these 
strange inconsistencies by the help of the follow- 
ing considerations : 

1. The Holy Spirit looks at the state of the 
affections, rather than at the opinions of the intel- 
lect ; at the confidence of the heart rather than at 
the belief of the head. 

2. Their opposition originated in a misconcep- 
tion of the requirements of the Divine law, and in 
wrong views of Christian perfection ; and, 

3. It is kept up by education, by prejudice, and 
by pride of consistency ; or, rather, by that natu- 
ral aversion, of which every one is conscious, to 
changing one's opinions, especially on important 
subjects, and after they have been publicly ex- 
pressed. 

4. The inconsistent conduct of some who have 
professed it, has brought it into disrepute in many 
communities. 

5. It has been so often caricatured, that many, 
even of its professed friends, have begun to sus- 
pect that the caricature is the reality. It has been 
so often burned in effigy, that the effigy is believed 
to be the thing itself.] 


174 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

IV. We will close the argumentative part of 
this work with a brief statement of the main argu- 
ments by which we prove the glorious doctrine 
we contend for to be the doctrine of the word of 
God. 

We begin, then, with Moses. He says Deut. 
vi. 5, 6 "Hear, Israel: thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy might. And these words, 
which I command thee this day, shall be in thine 
heart" to do them, as appears from the context. 
Any unprejudiced person will see from the con- 
text that Moses meant that this commandment 
should be kept personally by every Jew. He 
begins this chapter by saying, " Now these are the 
commandments which the Lord your God yours 
through an evangelical covenant commanded to 
teach you" and not that your Mediator might do 
them for you. Deut. vi. 1. Two verses after, he 
adds : " Hear, Israel, and observe to do not, 
Hear, and another shall observe to do for you 
that it may be well with thee." Then comes in 
our capital precept of perfect love, which, a few 
verses 'below, Moses continues to enforce thus : 
" Ye shall not tempt the Lord your covenant 
God. Ye shall diligently keep the commands of 
the Lord your God, and his testimonies which He 
hath commanded thee. And thou shalt do that 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 175 

which is right and good in the sight of the Lord 
thy G-od, that it may he well with thee. And 
when thy son asketh thee, saying, What mean 
these statutes? of perfect love, etc. then shalt 
thou say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bond- 
men in Egypt, and the Lord "brought us out." 
This precious chapter ends with the following con- 
vincing statement : "And the Lord commanded us 
to do all these statutes, that he might preserve us 
alive ; and it shall be our righteousness our gos- 
pel perfection if we observe to do all these com- 
mandments before the Lord our God, as he hath 
commanded us." 

Now, if Moses really spoke and wrote what he 
meant, it unavoidably follows, 1. That God really 
required of every Jew an evangelical and personal 
perfection of love, according to the degree of light 
and power imparted under the Jewish dispensa- 
tion. 2. That this evangelical Jewish perfection 
of love was attainable by every sincere Jew, 
because whatever G-od requires of us in a cove- 
nant of grace, he graciously engages himself to 
help us to perform, if we believingly and obe- 
diently embrace his promised assistance. And, 3. 
That if an evangelical perfection of love was at- 
tainable under the Jewish gospel for " the gospel 
was preached unto the Jews as well as unto us," 
although not so clearly, Heb. iv. 2 it is absurd 


176 CHRISTIAN' PERFECTION. 

to say that the gospel of Christ requires less pre- 
fection, or makes less provision for Christians to 
attain what their dispensation calls them to. 

[2. We prove our doctrine from the prophecies 
that this should be the state of the true Christian's 
experience under the full light of the Messiah's 
spiritual dispensation. We give one which must 
stand as a representative of all the rest. It is 
from Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27 : " Then will I sprinkle 
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean : from 
all your filthiness and from all your idols will I 
cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, 
and a new spirit will I put within you ; and I will 
take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and 
I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put 
my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in 
my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and 
do them." 

3. And in accordance with this prophecy, the 
announcing angel required that, at his advent, the 
Messiah's name should be called "Jesus" or 
Saviour because he should save his people from 
their sins. "And ye know that he was manifested 
to take away our sins. For, for this very pur- 
pose was the Son of God manifested, that he might 
destroy the works of the devil," that is, sin in 
every sense, internal and external, indwelling as 
well as overt ; so much so that " he -that abideth 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 177 

in him sinneth not/' either inwardly or outwardly, 
for " whosoever is born of God doth not commit 
sin." 1 John iii. 5, 8, 6, 9. 

His teachings, from his inaugural sermon on the 
mount, to his final discourse with his disciples 
around the table of the last supper, all show that 
Ms great object was to fulfil this anti-sinning, anti- 
satanic end of his mission.] " Think not," says 
he, " that I am come to destroy the law or the 
prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil; 
first, by perfectly obeying, myself, the two great 
moral precepts of Moses and the prophets ; and, 
next, by teaching and helping all my faithful dis- 
ciples to do the same. For verily I say unto you 
that far from being come to destroy the law and 
the prophets, that is, the spirituality and the strict- 
ness of the moral part of the Jewish gospel till 
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall 
in no wise pass from the law which Pharisaical 
glosses have unnerved till all be fulfilled. And 
lest you should think that I speak of your fulfil- 
ling this law by proxy or imputation, I add : 
Whosoever shall break one of the least of these 
commandments, and by precept and example 
shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in 
the kingdom of heaven : if he have any place 
among my people in my spiritual kingdom, it shall 
be only among my carnal babes who are the least 


178 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

of iny subjects. But whosoever shall do and teach 
them the commandments whose spirituality I am 
about to assert the same shall be called great 
in the kingdom of heaven he shall be an adult, 
perfect Christian in the kingdom, of my grace 
here; and shall receive a proportional crown of 
righteousness in the kingdom of my glory here- 
after." Matt. v. 17-19. And in the close of this 
chapter he says : " Be ye perfect, even as your 
Father in heaven is perfect." 

If I am not mistaken, it evidently follows from 
these plain words of Christ, 1. That he taught a 
personal perfection and a sinless perfection, too. 

2. That this perfection consists in not breaking, 
by wilful commission, the least of the command- 
ments which our Lord rescued from the false 
glosses of Antinomian Pharisees, who rested on 
the imputed righteousness of Abraham, saying : 
"We have Abraham for our father; we are the 
children of Abraham. ; we are perfect in Abraham ; 
all our perfection is in Abraham ;" and from the 
no less false glosses of those absurdly legal Phari- 
sees who paid the tithe of anise, mint, and cunnnin, 
with the greatest scrupulosity, while they secretly 
neglected mercy, truth, and the love of God. And, 

3. That the perfection which Christ enforced upon 
his disciples was not merely of the negative kind, 
but of the positive also, since it consisted both in 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 179 

doing and teaching the least, as well as the great- 
est, of God's commandments ; all of which hang 
upon these two : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with 
all thy mind : this is the first and the great com- 
mandment. And the second is like unto it in 
nature and importance Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
bor as thyself." Matt. xxii. 35-40. 

Agreeably to this doctrine, of perfection, our 
Lord said to the rich young man : " If thou wilt 
enter into life, keep the commandments ; if thou 
wilt be perfect, follow me" in the way of my com- 
mandments. " Love the Lord with all thy heart, 
and thy neighbor as thyself j for blessed are they 
that do his commandments, that they may enter 
through the gates into the city, and have right to 
the tree of life, which is in the street of that city, 
on either side of the pure river of the water of 
life. This do, and thou shalt live" eternally in 
heaven. " Bring forth fruit unto perfection," 
according to the talent of grace and power which 
thou art intrusted with, and thou shalt "inherit 
eternal life ; thou shalt receive the crown of 
life which the Lord has promised to them that 
love him" with the love that keeps the command- 
ments, and fulfils the royal law. Compare Matt, 
xix. 17 ; Luke x. 28 ; Rev. xxii. 2, 14 ; James i. 
12 and Luke viii. 14. 


180 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. - 

The last of these discourses contains several 
exhortations to the performance of the two great 
commandments of perfect love, and concludes with 
a prayer in which is uttered a fervent .petition to 
the Father to " sanctify his disciples through 
the truth," stating that that truth was his word. 
See John xvii. 17. 

4. [As the Holy Spirit of inspiration cannot 
"be charged with duplicity and insincerity, the 
apostles, who wrote under his direct influence, 
must really have indicated truly the mind of the 
Spirit when they wrote. If so, it is the will of 
God that we should be perfect : " This is the will 
of God, even your sanctification." 1 Thess. iv. 3. 
For, 

(1.) Their writings abound in commandments 
that Christians should be holy, sanctified, or per- 
fect, accompanying the command with the sanc- 
tions of a holy law : " Be ye holy. Follow holi- 
ness, without which no man shall see the Lord." 
Heb. xii. 14. 

(2.) The writings of the apostles are also full 
of exhortations to this effect : " Wherefore, seeing 
we are compassed about with so great a cloud of 
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the 
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run 
with patience the race that is set before us, and 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 181 

let us go on to perfection." Heb. xii. 1 ; vi. 1. 
"Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, 
let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the 
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of 
God." 2 Cor. vii. 1. 

(3.) The apostles prayed with great fervor and 
apparent faith for this blessing upon the churches. 
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; 
and I pray God your whole spirit, soul, and body 
be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord 
Jesus Christ." 1 Thess. v. 23. " Now the God of 
peace that brought again from the dead our Lord 
Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the 
blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect 
in every good work, working in you that which is 
well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to 
whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Heb. 
xiii. 20, 21. "For this cause I bow my knees 
before the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ., of whom the whole family in heaven and 
earth is named, that he would grant you, accord- 
ing to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened 
with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that 
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye, 
being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to 
comprehend With all saints what is the breadth 
and length and depth and height, and to know the 


182 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye 
might be filled with all the fulness of God." Eph. 
iii. 14-19. Now, a candid consideration of these 
prayers forces ns to the conclusion that the per- 
fection of Christianity, for which the apostle prays 
in these and in numerous other passages, might be 
conferred on those . for whom he prayed ; or the 
following consequences are irresistibly pressed 
upon us : either that the apostles were ignorant of 
the true doctrine, believing and teaching a false- 
hood ; or they were knowingly guilty of falsehood ; 
or they were guilty of hypocrisy, and were making 
use of the most appropriate means to convince 
those to whom they wrote that they believed what 
they did not, and were guilty also of mockery in 
praying to God for what they knew he could not, 
or would not, grant ; and, moreover, that the Holy 
Spirit is chargeable with insincerity in inspiring 
prayers which he intended should not be answered, 
and of exciting hopes merely for the gratification 
of seeing them blighted. 

(4.) The promises contained in their Epistles 
are equally satisfactory. Says St. Peter : " Ex- 
ceeding great and precious promises are given unto 
us, that by these we might be partakers of the 
Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that 
is in the world through lust." 2 Peter i. 4. A 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 183 

glorious purpose, indeed, which has, without doubt, 
been accomplished in the hearts and lives of all 
who have fully believed those promises. Again : 
The prayer which we have just quoted froml Thess. 
v. 23, -concludes, in the following verse, with this 
assurance : " Faithful is He that calleth you 
who hath promised your entire sanctification, 
and the preserving of your whole spirit, and soul, 
and body, blameless until the coming of our Lord 
Jesus Christ who also will do it? We conclude 
with the doxology which closes the prayer, quoted 
from Eph. iii. 20, 21 : "Now imto Him that is 
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we 
either ask or think, according to the power that 
worketh in us, unto him be glory in the Church by 
Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without 
end. Amen." 

5. The apostles were greatly mistaken as to 
the object of their mission and ministry, if the 
doctrine that Christians may be perfect, even in 
this life, be not true. For St. Paul declares 
that "He Christ gave some, apostles; some, 
prophets ; some, evangelists ; and some, pastors 
and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, 
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of 
the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity 
of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of 


184 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

(rod, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of 
the stature of the fulness of Christ." Eph. iv. 
11-13. 

6. The great apostle of the Gentiles and the 
apostle of love both very grossly erred, when 
they professed, for themselves and others, to 
have obtained this perfection, when one says : 
"Herein is our love made perfect" 1 John iv. 
17 and the other says : "As many of us as 
be perfect, let us be thus minded." Phil. iii. 15.] 

I have set before thee, reader, the lights and 
shades of our doctrine; I have produced our 
arguments and those of our opponents, and now 
say, which of them bears the stamp of imperfec- 
tion? If thou pronounce that Urini and Thuni- 
mini, light and perfection, belong to the argu- 
ments of our opponents, I must lay by my pen, 
and deplore the infelicity of our having a rea- 
son which unsays in my breast what it says in 
thine. But if thou find, after mature delibera- 
tion, that our arguments are " light in the Lord," 
as being" more agreeable to the dictates of un- 
prejudiced reason than those of our antagonists, 
more conformable to the plain declarations of 
the sacred writers, more fit to encourage be- 
lievers in the way of holiness, more suitable to 
the nature of undefiled religion, and better adapted 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 185 

to the display of the Redeemer's glory, I shall 
enjoy the double pleasure of embracing the truth, 
and of embracing it together with thee. 

And now, having closed my arguments, I beg 
your favorable attention to a few practical ad- 
dresses on the subject. 


186 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

AN ADDRESS TO PERFECT CHRISTIAN PHARISEES. 

I ADDRESS you first, ye perfect Christian Phari- 
sees, because ye are most ready to profess Chris- 
tian perfection, though, alas ! ye stand at the 
greatest distance from perfect humility, the grace 
which is most essential to the perfect Christian's 
character; and because the enemies of our doc- 
trine make use of you first when they endeavor to 
root it up from the earth. 

That ye may know whom I mean by perfect 
Christian Pharisees, give me leave to show you 
your own picture, in the glass of a plain descrip- 
tion. Ye have, professedly, entered into the fold 
where Christ's sheep, which are perfected in love, 
rest all at each other's feet, and at the feet of the 
Lamb of God. But how have ye entered ? By 
" Christ the door," or at the door of presumption ? 
Not by Christ the door ; for Christ is meekness 
and lowliness manifested in the flesh ; but ye are 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 187 

still ungentle and fond of praise. When he pours 
out his soul as a Divine Prophet, he says : " Learn 
of me, for I ani meek and lowly in heart ; take iny 
yoke upon you, and ye shall find rest unto your 
souls." But ye overlook this humble door. Your 
proud, gigantic minds are above stooping low 
enough to follow Him " who made himself of no re- 
putation," that he might raise us to heavenly hon- 
ors ; and who, to pour just contempt upon human 
pride, had his first night's lodgings in a stable, and 
spent his last night partly on the cold ground, in 
a storm of Divine wrath, and partly in an igno- 
minious confinement, exposed to the greatest in- 
dignities which Jews and Gentiles could pour upon 
him. He rested his infant head upon hay, his 
dying head upon thorns. A manger was his cra- 
dle, and a cross his death-bed. Thirty years he 
travelled from the sordid stable to the accursed 
tree, unnoticed .by his own peculiar people. In 
the brightest of his days, poor fishermen, some 
Galilean women, and a company of shouting chil- 
dren, formed all his retinue. Shepherds were his 
first attendants, and malefactors his last com- 
panions. 

His first beatitude was, " Blessed are the poor in 
spirit;'' and the last, " Blessed are ye, when men 
shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all 
manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." 


188 . CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

His first doctrine was, " Repent j" nor was the 
last unlike to it : " If I have washed your feet, 
ye ought also to wash one another's feet, for I have 
given you an example that ye should do as I have 
done to you. He that will be first among you, 
let him. be the least of all." Now, far from, prac- 
ticing with godly sincerity this last lesson of our 
humble Lord, you do not so much as truly relish 
the first. Ye do not delight in, nay, ye abhor, 
penitential poverty of spirit. Your humility is 
not cordial, and wrought into your nature by 
grace; but complimental, and woven into your 
carriage by art. Ye are humble in looks, in ges- 
tures, in voice, in dress, in behavior so far as 
external humility helps you to secure the reputa- 
tion of perfect Christians, at which ye aspire from 
a motive of Pharisaic ambition ; but ye continue 
strangers to the childlike simplicity and unaffected 
lowliness of Christ's perfect disciples. Ye are the 
very reverse of those " Israelites in whom, there is 
no guile." Ye resemble the artful Gibeonites, 
who, for a time, imposed upon Joshua's artless 
simplicity. Your feigned profession of special 
grace deceives those of God's children who have 
more of the simplicity of the dove than of the ser- 
pent's wisdom. Ye choose the lowest place, but 
ye do not love it. If ye cheerfully take it, it is 
not among your equals, but among your inferiors ; 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 189 

because you think that such a condescending step 
may raise the credit of your humility, without 
endangering your superiority. If ye stoop, and 
go down, it is not because ye see yourselves un- 
worthy of the seat of honor ; but because ye hope 
that people will by-and-by say to you, Come up 
higher. Tour Pharisaic cunning aims at wearing 
at once the coronet of genuine humility, and the 
crown of self-exalting pride. Te love to be es- 
teemed of men for your goodness and devotion : 
ye want to be admired for your exactness, zeal, 
and gracious attainments. The pride of the Jew- 
ish Pharisees was coarse in comparison of yours. 
They wore the rough garment, and you wear the 
silks, of spiritual vanity ; and even when ye dye 
them in the blood of the Lamb, which you extol 
in word, it is to draw the confidence of humble 
Christians by your Christian appearance and lan- 
guage, more than to follow the propensity of a new 
nature, which loves to be clothed with humility, 
and feels itself in its own centre when it rests in 
deep poverty of spirit, and sees that Gk>d is " all 
in all." 

One of the greatest ends of Christ's corning-into 
the world was to empty us of ourselves, and to fill 
us with humble love ; but ye are still full of your- 
selves and void of Christ, that is, void of humility 
incarnate. Ye still aim at some wrong mark : 


190 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

whether it be self-glory, self-interest, self-pleasure, 
self-party, or self-applause. In a "word, one self- 
ish scheme or another, contrary to the pure love 
of Grocl and of your neighbor, secre.tly destroys the 
root of your profession, and may be compared to 
the unseen worm that ate the root of Jonah's 
gourd. Ye have a narrow, contracted spirit : ye 
do not gladly sacrifice your private satisfactioi3, 
your interest, your reputation, your prejudices, to 
the general interest of truth and love, and to the 
public good of the whole body of Christ. Te are 
in secret bondage to men, places, and things. Ye 
do not heartily entertain the wisdom from above, 
which is pure, gentle, easy to be entreated, and 
full of mercy. Nay, ye are above conviction; 
gross sinners yield to truth before you. Like 
Jehu, ye are zealous, and ye pretend that it is for 
the Lord of hosts ; but, alas ! it is for your opin- 
ions, your party, your honor. In a word, ye do 
not walk in constant, solemn expectation of death 
and judgment ; your will is not broken ; your car- 
nal confidence is yet alive; the heavenly dove 
does not sit in your breast ; self, wrapped up in the 
cloak of humility, is still set up . in your hearts, 
and in secret you serve that cursed idol more than 
God. Satan, transformed into an angel of light, has 
artfully led you to the profession of Christian per- 
fection through a circle of external performances, 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 191 

through glorious forms of doctrine in the letter, 
and through a fair show of zeal for complete holi- 
ness : the Lord, to punish your formality, has in 
part given you up to your delusion ; and now ye 
as much believe yourselves perfect Christians, as 
the Pharisees, in our Lord's day, believed them- 
selves perfect Jews. 

Mr. "Wesley, in his Plain Account of Christian 
Perfection, has borne his faithful testimony against 
such witnesses of perfect love as ye are. If ye 
despise this address, regard his remarks : " Others," 
says he, " who think they have the direct witness 
of their being renewed in love, are nevertheless 
manifestly wanting in the fruit. Some are un- 
doubtedly wanting in long-suffering, Christian resig- 
nation. They do not see the hand of Grod in 
whatever occurs, and cheerfully embrace it. They 
do not 'in every thing give thanks, and rejoice 
evermore.' They are not happy; at least, not 
always happy. For sometimes they complain. 
They say, i This is hard !' Some are wanting in 
gentleness. They resist evil, instead of turning the 
other cheek. They do not receive reproach with 
gentleness ; no, nor even reproof. Nay, they are 
not able to bear contradiction without the appear- 
ance, at least, of resentment. If they are reproved, 
or contradicted, though mildly, they do not take it 
well. They behave with more distance and re- 


192 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

serve than they did before, etc. Some are want- 
ing in goodness. They are not kind, mild, sweet, 
amiable, soft, and loving at all times in their spirit, 
in their words,' in their look, in their air, in the 
whole tenor of their behavior; not kind to all, 
high and low, rich and poor, without respect of 
person particularly to them that are out of the 
way, to opposers, and to those of their own house- 
hold. They do not long, study, endeavor, by 
every means, to make all about them happy. 
Some are wanting in fidelity, a nice regard to truth, 
simplicity, and godly sincerity. Their love is 
hardly i without dissimulation:' something like 
guile is found in their mouth. To avoid rough- 

t i <-j 

ness, they lean to the other extreme. They are 
smooth to an excess, so as scarce to avoid a degree 
of fawning. Some are wanting in meekness, quiet- 
ness of spirit, composure, evenness of temper. 
They are up and down, sometimes high, sometimes 
low; their mind is not well. balanced. Their affec- 
tions are either not in due proportion they have 
too much of the one, too little of the other or 
they are not duly mixed and tempered together so 
as to counterpoise each other. Hence there is 
often a jar. Their soul is out of tune, and cannot 
make the true harmony. Some are wanting in 
temperance. They do not steadily use that kind 
and degree of food which they know, or might 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 193 

know, would most conduce to the health, strength, 
and vigor of the body. Or they are not temperate 
in sleep : they do not rigorously adhere to what 
is best for body and mind. They use neither fast- 
ing nor abstinence," etc. 

I have described your delusion; but who can 
describe its fatal consequences ? Who can tell 
the mischief it has clone and continues to do? 
The few sincere perfectionists, and the multitude 
of captious irnperfectionists, have equally found 
you out. The former are grieved for you, and the 
latter triumph through you. 

When the sincere perfectionists consider the in- 
consistency of your profession, they are ready to 
give up their faith in Christ's all-cleansing blood, 
and their hope of getting a clean heart in this life. 
They are tempted to follow the multitude of pro- 
fessors, who sit down in self-irnpiited righteous- 
ness, or in Solifidian notions of an ideal perfection 
in Christ, [or in Laodicean indifference to the at- 
tainment of what they profess to believe.] And 
it is well if some of them, have not already yielded 
to the temptation, and begun to fight against the 
hopes which they once entertained of loving God 
with all their hearts. It is well if some, through 
you, have not been led to say : " I once sweetly 
enjoyed the thought of doing the will of Gfod 011 
earth as it is done in heaven. Once I hopefully 


194 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

prayed God would 'BO cleanse my heart that I 
might perfectly love and worthily magnify his holy 
name' in this world. But now I have renounced 
my hopes, and I abhor the doctrine of evangelical 
perfection. When I was a young convert, I be- 
lieved that Christ could really make an end of all 
moral pollution, cast out the man of sin, and 
cleanse us from, the sins of the heart as well as 
from outward iniquity in this life; but I soon met 
with unhumbled, self-willed people, who, boldly 
standing up for this glorious liberty, made me 
question the truth of the doctrine. Nay, in pro- 
cess of time, I found that some of those who 
most confidently professed to have attained this 
salvation, were further from the gentleness, sim- 
plicity, catholic spirit, and unfeigned humility of 
Christ, than many believers, who had never con- 
sidered the doctrine' of Christian perfection. These 
offences striking in with the disappointment which 
I myself met with, in feebly seeking the pearl of 
perfect love, made me conclude that it can no more 
be found than the philosopher's stone, and that 
they are all either fools or knaves who set be- 
lievers upon seeking it. And now I everywhere 
decry the doctrine of perfection as a dangerous 
delusion. I set people against it wherever I go ; 
and my zeal in this respect has been attended with 
the greatest success. I have damped the hopes 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 195 

of inany perfectionists ! And I have proselyted 
several to the doctrine of Christian imperfection. 
With them I now quietly wait to be purified from 
indwelling sin in the article of death, and to be 
made perfect in another world." 

This is, I fear, the language of many hearts, 
although it is not openly spoken by many lips. 
Thus are you, ye perfect Pharisees, the great 
instruments by which the tempter tears away the 
shield of those unsettled Israelites, who look more 
at your inconsistencies than they do at the beauty 
of holiness, the promise of God, the blood of Christ, 
and the power of the Spirit. 

But this is not all : as ye destroy the budding 
faith of sincere perfectionists, so ye strengthen 
the unbelief of the opposers of this doctrine. 
Through you their prejudices are grown up 
into a fixed detestation of Christian perfection. 
Ye have hardened them in their error, and fur- 
nished them with plausible arguments to destroy 
the truth which ye contend for. Did ye never 
hear their triumphs ? " Ha ! ha ! So would we 
have it ! These are some of the people who stand 
up for sinless perfection ! They are all alike. Did 
not I tell you that you would find them out to be 
no better than temporary monsters ? What mon- 
strous pride ! What touchiness, obstinacy, bigotry, 
and stoicism characterize them! How do they 


196 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

strain at gnats and swallow camels ! I had rather 
be an open drunkard than a perfectionist. Publi- 
cans and harlots shall enter into the kingdom of 
heaven before them." These are the cutting 
speeches to which your glaring inconsistency, and 
the severe prejudices of our opponents, give birth. 
Is it not deplorable that your tempers should thus 
drive men to abhor the doctrine which your lips 
recommend ? 

And what do you get by thus dispiriting the 
real friends of Christian perfection, and by fur- 
nishing its sworn enemies with such sharp weapons 
against it? Think ye that the mischief ye do 
shall not recoil upon yourselves ? Is not Christ 
the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever ? If he 
detested the perfect Pharisaism, of unhumbled 
Jews, will he admire the perfect self-righteousness 
of aspiring Christians ? If he formerly " resisted 
the proud, and gave grace to the humble," what 
reason have ye to hope that he will submit to 
your spiritual pride, and reward your religious 
ostentation with a crown of glory ? Te perhaps 
cry out against Antinoniianism, and I commend 
you for it ; but are ye not deeply tainted with the 
worst sort of Antinomianisin that which starches, 
stiffens, and swells the soul ? Ye justly bear your 
testimony against those who render the law of 
Christ of none effect to believers, by degrading it 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 197 

into a rule which they have stripped of the puni- 
tive and remunerative sanctions with which it 
stands armed in the sacred records. But are ye 
not doubly guilty, who maintain that this law is 
still in force as a law, and nevertheless refuse to 
pay it sincere, internal obedience ? Eor when ye 
break the first commandment of Christ's evangeli- 
cal law, by practically discarding penitential " pov- 
erty of spirit ;" and when ye transgress the last, by 
abhorring the lowest place, "by disdaining to " wash 
each other's feet," and by refusing to "prefer 
others in honor before yourselves;" are ye not 
guilty of breaking all the law by breaking it in 
one point in the capital point of humble love, 
which runs through all the parts of the law, as 
vital blood does through all the parts of the body ? 
how much more dangerous is the case of an un- 
humbled man, who stiffly walks in robes of self- 
made perfection, than that of an humble man who, 
through prejudice and the force of example, meekly 
walks in robes of self-iniputed righteousness ! 

Behold, thou callest thyself a perfect Christian^ 
and restest in the evangelical law of Christ, which 
is commonly called the gospel : thou makest thy 
boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest 
the things that are more excellent, even the way 
of Chris.tian perfection, being instructed out of the 
gospel ; and art confident that " thou thyself art 


198 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

a guide of the blind, a light of them who are in 
darkness, an instructor of the foolish, and a teacher 
of babes/' or imperfect believers ; having the form 
of knowledge and of the truth in the gospel. Thou, 
therefore, who teachest another, teachest thou not 
thyself? Thou that preachest another should not 
break the law of Christ, through breaking it dis- 
honorest thou God ? Eor the name of God is blas- 
phemed through you among those who seek an 
occasion to blaspheme it. Romans ii. 17, etc. 
And think ye that ye shall escape the righteous 
judgment of God ? Has Christ no woes but for 
the Jewish Pharisees ? be no longer mistaken ! 
Consider well, before ye are punished by being 
here given up to a "reprobate mind, and by being 
hereafter cast into the hell of hypocrites, the outer 
darkness where there will be more weeping, wail- 
ing, and gnashing of teeth than in any other hell ! 
Before ye are overtaken by the awful hour of death, 
and the dreadful day of judgment, practically learn 
that Christian perfection is the mind which was in 
Christ, especially his humble, meek, quiet mind ; 
his gentle, free, loving spirit. Aim at it by sink- 
ing into deep self-abhorrence ; and not by using, 
as ye have hitherto clone, the empty talk and pro- 
fession of Christian perfection as a step to reach 
the top of spiritual pride. 

Mistake me not : I do not blame you for hold- 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 199 

ing the doctrine of Christian perfection, but for 
wilfully missing the only way that leads to it : I 
mean the humble, meek, and loving Jesus, who 
says : " I am the way, and the door ; by me, if 
any man enter in, he shall be saved into so great 
salvation. He that entereth not by this door into ' 
this sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, 
[and especially he that climbeth by the way of 
Pharisaic formality,] the same is a thief and a 
robber :" he robs Christ of his glory, and pretends 
to what he has no more right to than a thief has 
to your property. Would ye then be right ? Do 
not cast away the doctrine of sinless holiness ; but 
contend more for it with your heart than with 
your lips. With all your soul, press after such a 
perfection as Christ, St. Paul, and St. John taught 
and exemplified a perfection of meekness and 
humble love. Earnestly believe all the woes 
which the gospel denounces against self-righteous 
Pharisees, and all the blessings which it promises 
to perfect penitents. Drink less into the letter, 
and more into the Spirit of Christ, till, like a foun- 
tain of living water, it spring up to everlasting life 
in your heart. Ye have climbed to the Pharisaic 
perfection of Saul of Tarsus, when, " touching the 
righteousness of the law, he was blameless." 

* * j 

Would ye now attain the evangelical perfection 
which he was possessed of when he said : " Let 


200 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

* 

us, as many as are perfect, "be thus minded ?" 
Only follow him through the regeneration ; fell to 
the dust before God ; rise conscious of the blind- 
ness of your heart, meekly deplore it with peniten- 
tial shame ; and if you follow the directions laid 
down in the third address, I doubt not but, dan- 
gerous as your case is at present, you will be, like 
St. Paul, as eminent for Christian perfection as 
you have hitherto been for Pharisaic formality. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 201 


CHAPTER XV. 

AN ADDRESS TO PREJUDICED IMPERFECTIONISTS. 

I FEAR that, next to the persons whom I have 
just addressed, ye injure the cause of holiness, 
ye believers who have been deluded into doctrinal 
Antinomianism, by the bad arguments which are 
answered in the preceding pages. Permit me, 
therefore, to address you next ; nor suffer preju- 
dice to make you throw away this expostulation, 
before you have granted it a fair perusal. 

Ye directly or indirectly plead for the neces- 
sary continuance of indwelling sin in your own 
hearts, and in the hearts of all true Christians. 
But may I be so bold as to ask, Who gave you 
leave so to do ? And when were ye commissioned 
to propagate this unholy gospel ? Was it at your 
baptism, when ye were ranked among Christ's sol- 
diers, and received a Christian name, in token that 
ye would " keep God's holy will and command- 
ments all the days of your life ?" And that you 


202 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

would " not be ashamed to figlit manfully against 
the tvorld, the flesh, and the devil, unto your life's 
end ?" Are not these three enemies strong enough 
sufficiently to exercise your patience, and to try 
your warlike skill to the last ? Did you promise 
that you would quarter a fourth enemy, called 
indwelling sin, in your very breast, lest ye should 
not have enemies enough to fight against? On 
the contrary, were ye not exhorted " utterly to 
abolish the whole body of sin ?" If so, is it not 
strange that ye should spend part of your precious 
time in pleading, under various pretexts, for the 
preservation of heart-sin a sin, this, which gives 
life, warmth, and vigor to the whole body of sin ? 
And is it not deplorable that, instead of conscien- 
tiously fulfilling your baptismal engagements, ye 
should attack those who desire to fulfil them, by 
seeking to have " the whole body of sin" utterly 
abolished? 

How can ye, in all your confessions and sacra- 
mental offices, renounce sin, the accursed thing 
which Glod abhors, and which obedient believers 
detest, and yet plead for its life, its strength, its 
constant energy, so long as we are in this world ? 
We could better bear with you if ye appropriated 
a hand or a foot, an eye or an ear, to sin, during 
the term of life ; but who can bear your pleas for 
the necessary continuance of sin in the heart? Is 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 203 

it not enough that this murderer of Christ, and of 
all mankind, rambles about the walls of the city ? 
"Will ye still insinuate that he must have the cita- 
del to the last, and keep it garrisoned with filthy 
lusts, base affections, bad tempers, or "diabolo- 
nians." who, like prisoners, show themselves at the 
grate ; and, " like snakes, toads, and wild beasts, 
are the fiercer for being confined?" Who has 
taught you thus to represent Christ as the keeper, 
and not the destroyer, of our corruptions ? If be- 
lievers be truly willing to get rid of sin, but can- 
not, because Christ has bolted their hearts with 
an adamantine decree, which prevents sin from 
being turned out; if he have irrevocably given 
leave to indwelling sin to quarter for life in every 
Christian's heart, as the King of France once gave 
leave to his dragoons to quarter for some months 
in the houses of the poor,. oppressed Protestants, 
who does not see that Christ may be called the 
protector of indwelling sin, rather than its enemy ? 
Ye absurdly complain that the doctrine of Chris- 
tian perfection does not exalt our Saviour, because 
it represents him as radically saving his obedient 
people from their indwelling sin in this life. But 
are ye not guilty of the very error which ye 
charge upon us, when ye insinuate that he cannot, 
or will not, say to our inbred sins : " Those mine 
enemies which will not that I should reign over 


200 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

us. as many as are perfect, be thus minded?" 
Only follow Mm through the regeneration ; fall to 
the dust before God ; rise conscious of the blind-, 
ness of your heart, meekly deplore it with peniten- 
tial shame ; and if you follow the directions laid 
down in the third address, I doubt not but, dan- 
gerous as your case is at present, you will be, like 
St. Paul, as eminent for Christian perfection as 
you have hitherto been for Pharisaic formality. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 201 


CHAPTER XV. 

AN ADDRESS TO PREJUDICED IMPERFECTIONISTS. 

I FEAR that, next to the persons whom I have 
just addressed, ye injure the cause of holiness, 
ye believers who have been deluded into doctrinal 
Antinomianisin, by the bad arguments which are 
answered in the preceding pages. Permit me, 
therefore, to address you next; nor suffer preju- 
dice to make you throw away this expostulation, 
before you have granted it a fair perusal. 

Ye directly or indirectly plead for the neces- 
.sary continuance of indwelling sin in your own 
hearts, and in the hearts of all true Christians. 
But may I be so bold as to ask, Who gave you 
leave so to do ? And when were ye commissioned 
to propagate this unholy gospel ? Was it at your 
baptism, when ye were ranked among Christ's sol- 
diers, and received a Christian name, in token that 
ye would " keep Grod's holy will and command- 
ments all the days of your life ?" And that you 


202 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

would " not be ashamed to fight manfully against 
the world, the flesh, and the devil, unto your life's 
end ?" Are not these three enemies strong enough 
sufficiently to exercise your patience, and to try. 
your warlike skill to the last ? Did you promise 
that you would quarter a fourth enemy, called 
indwelling sin, in your very breast, lest ye should 
not have enemies enough to fight against? On 
the contrary, were ye not exhorted " utterly to 
abolish the whole body of sin ?" If so, is it not 
strange that ye should spend part of your precious 
time in pleading, under various pretexts, for the 
preservation of heart-sin a sin, this, which gives 
life, warmth, and vigor to the whole body of sin ? 
And is it not deplorable that, instead of conscien- 
tiously fulfilling your baptismal engagements, ye 
should attack those who desire to fulfil them by 
seeking to have " the whole body of sin" utterly 
abolished? 

How can ye, in all your confessions and sacra- 
mental offices, renounce sin, the accursed thing 
which Grod abhors, and which obedient believers 
detest, and yet plead for its life, its strength, its 
constant energy, so long as we are in this world ? 
We could better bear with you if ye appropriated 
a hand or a foot, an eye or an ear, to sin, during 
the term of life ; but who can bear your pleas for 
the necessary continuance of sin in the heart? Is 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 203 

it not enough, that this murderer of Christ, and of 
all mankind, rambles about the walls of the city ? 
Will ye still insinuate that he must have the cita- 
del to the last, and keep it garrisoned with filthy 
lusts, base affections, bad tempers, or "diabolo- 
nians," who, like prisoners, show themselves at the 
grate ; and, " like snakes, toads, and wild beasts, 
are the fiercer for being confined?" Who has 
taught you thus to represent Christ as the keeper, 
and not the destroyer, of our corruptions ? If be- 
lievers be truly willing to get rid of sin, but can- 
not, because Christ has bolted their hearts with 
an adamantine decree, which prevents sin from 
being turned out; if he have irrevocably given 
leave to indwelling sin to quarter for life in every 
Christian's heart, as the King of France once gave 
leave to his dragoons to quarter for some months 
in the houses of the poor,. oppressed Protestants, 
who does not see that Christ may be called the 
protector of indwelling sin, rather than its enemy ? 
Ye absurdly complain that the doctrine of Chris- 
tian perfection does not exalt our Saviour, because 
it represents him as radically saving his obedient 
people from their indwelling sin in this life. But 
are ye not guilty of the very error which ye 
charge upon us, when ye insinuate that he cannot, 
or will not, say to our inbred sins : " Those mine 
enemies which will not that I should reign over 


204 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

them, "bring hither and slay them "before me T If 
a common judge has power to pass sentence of 
death upon all the robbers and murderers who are 
properly prosecuted ; and if they are hanged and 
destroyed in a few days, weeks, or months, in 
consequence of his sentence, how strangely do ye 
reflect upon Christ, and revive the Agag within 
us, when ye insinuate that he, the Judge of all, 
who was " manifested for this very purpose, that 
he might destroy the works of the devil," so far 
forgets his errand that he never destroys indwell- 
ing sin in one of his willing people, so long as they 
are in this world, although that sin is the capital 
and most mischievous " work of the devil ?" 

Tour doctrine of the necessary continuance of 
indwelling sin in all faithful believers traduces not 
only the Son of man, but also the adorable Trinity. 
The Father gives his only-begotten Son, his Isaac, 
to be crucified, that the rani, sin, may be offered 
up and slain. But you insinuate that the life of 
that cursed ram is secured by a decree, which 
allots it the heart of all believers for a safe retreat, 
and a warm stable, so long as we are in this world. 
You represent the Son as an almighty Saviour, 
who oilers to " make us free" from sin ; and yet 
appoints that the galling yoke of indwelling sin 
shall remain tied to, and bound upon, our very 
hearts for life. Ye describe the Holy Ghost as a 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 205 

Sanctifier, who applies Christ's all-cleansing blood 
to the believer's* heart, filling it with the oil of 
holiness and gladness ; and yet ye suppose that 
our hearts must necessarily remain " desperately 
wicked/' and full of indwelling sin ! Is it right to 
pour contempt upon Christianity, by charging 
such inconsistencies upon Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost? 

It can hardly be expected that those who thus 
misrepresent their God, should do their neighbor 
justice. Hence the liberty which ye take to fix 
a blot upon the most holy characters. What have 
the prophets and apostles clone to you that ye 
should represent them, not only as men ivlio had 
hearts partly evil to the last, but also as advocates 
for the necessary indwelling of sin in all believers 
till death ? And why do ye so eagerly take your 
advantage of holy Paul in particular, and catch at 
a figurative mode of speech, to insinuate that he 
was "a carnal wretch, sold under sin," even when 
he expected "a crown of righteousness at the 
hand of his righteous Judge," for. having " finished 
his course with the just men made perfect ?" Nay, 
what have we done to you, that ye should endea- 
vor to take from us the greatest comfort we have 
in fighting against the remains of sin ? Why will 
ye deprive us of the pleasing and purifying hope 
of taking the Jericho which we encompass, and 


206 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

killing the Goliath whom we attack ? And what 
has indwelling sin done for you, that ye should 
still plead for the propriety of its continuance in 
our hearts ? Is it not the root of all outward sin, 
and the spring of all the streams of iniquity, which 
cany desolation through every part of the globe ? 
If ye hate the fruit, why do ye so eagerly contend 
for the necessary continuance of the root ? And 
if ye favor godliness, (for many of you undoubt- 
edly do,) why do you put such a conclusive argu- 
ment as this into the mouths of the wicked : 
" These good men contend for the propriety of in- 
dwelling sin, that grace may abound; and why 
should we not plead for the propriety of outward 
sin, for the same important reason ? Does not 
God approve of an honest heart, which scorns to 
cloak the inward iniquity with outward demure- 
ness ?" 

Mr. Rowland Hill has published an ingenious 
dialogue, called A Lash to Enthusiasm, in which 
(p. 26) he uses an argument against pleading for 
lukewarniness, which, with very little variation, 
may be retorted against his plea for indwelling sin : 
"Suffer me," says he, "to put the sentiments of 
such persons [as plead for the middle way of luke- 
warmnessj into the form of a prayer, which we 
may suppose would run in some such expressions 
as the following : ' Lord, thy word requires that 


\ 


CHRISTIAN PERFE 


CTION. 207 


I should love thee with all my heart, '"with all my 
mind, with all my soul, and with all my^strength ; 
that I should renounce the world, [and indwelling 
sin,] and should present myself as a holy, reason- 

'V 

able, and lively sacrifice unto thee; but, Lord, 
these are such over-righteous extremes [and such 
heights of sinless perfection] as I cannot away 
with ; and, therefore, grant that thy love, and a 
moderate share of the love of the world, [or of 
indwelling sin,] may both reign [or at least con- 
tinue] in my heart at once. I ask it for Jesus 
Christ's sake. Amen.' " Mr. Hill justly adds : 
" Now, dear madam, if you are shocked at such a 
petition, consider that it is the exact language of 
your own heart while you can plead for what you 
call the middle ivay of religion" And I beg leave 
to take up his own argument, and to add, with 
equal propriety : " Now, dear sirs, if you are 
shocked at such a petition, consider that it is the 
exact language of your own heart, while ye can 
plead for what ye call indwelling sin, or the remains 
of sin" 

Nor can I see what ye get by such conduct. 
The excruciating thorn of indwelling sin sticks in 
your hearts : we assert that Christ can and will 
extract it, if ye plead his promise of " sanctifying 
you wholly in soul, body, and spirit." But ye 
say : " This cannot be ; the thorn must stay in till 


208 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

death extract it ; and the leprosy shall cleave to 
the walls till the house is' demolished." Just as 
if Christ, by radically cleansing the lepers in the 
days of his flesh, had not given repeated proofs of 
the absurdity of your argument ! Just as if part 
of the gospel were not : " The lepers are cleansed/' 
and, " If the Son make you free, ye shall be free 
indeed !" 

If ye get nothing in pleading for Christian im- 
perfection, permit me to tell you what you lose by 
it, and what ye might get by steadily going on to 
perfection. 

1. If ye earnestly aimed at Christian perfection, 
ye would have a bright testimony in your own 
souls that you are sincere, and that ye walk 
agreeably to your baptismal engagements. Some 
of the most pious Calvinists doubt if those who do 
not pursue Christian perfection are Christians at 
all. Hence it follows, that the more earnestly 
you pursue it, the stronger will be } r our confidence 
that you are upright Christians; and when ye 
shall be perfected in love, ye shall have that evi- 
dence of your sincerity which will perfectly " cast 
out servile fear, which hath torment," and nourish 
the filial fear which has safety and delight. It is 
hard to conceive how we can constantly enjoy the 
full assurance of faith, out of the state of Christian 
perfection. For so long as a Christian inwardly 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 209 

.- 

breaks Christ's law, lie is justly condemned in his 
own conscience. If his heart do not condemn him 
for it, it is merely because he is asleep in the lap 
of Antinomianisin. On the other hand, says St. 
John : " If our heart condemn us, God is greater 
than our heart, and knoweth all things" that make 
for our condemnation. But if we " love in deed 
and in truth," which none but the perfect do at all 
times, " hereby we know that we are of the truth, 
and shall assure our hearts before him." 1 John 
iii. 19, 20. 

2. The perfect Christian, who has left all to fol- 
low Christ, is peculiarly near and dear to God. 
He is, if I may use the expression, one of God's 
favorites ; and his prayers are remarkably answer- 
ed. This will appear to you indubitable, if ye can 
receive the testimony of those who are perfected 
in obedient love. " Behold," say they, " whatso- 
ever we ask, we receive of him ; because we keep 
his commandments, and do those things which are 
pleasing in his sight ;" that is, because we are per- 
fected in obedient love. 1 John iii. 22. This 
peculiar blessing ye lose by despising Christian 
perfection. Nay, so great is the union which sub- 
sists between God and the perfect members of his 
Son, that it is compared to dwelling in God., and 
having God dwelling in us, in such a manner that 
the Father, the Son, and the Comforter are said 


210 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

to maJce their abode ^vith us. "At that day [when 
ye shall be perfected in one] ye shall know that I 
am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 
If a man love me, he will keep my words ; and 
my Father will love him ; and we will come to 
him, and make our abode with him." John xiv. 
20, 23. Again: "He that keepeth God's com- 
mandments dwelleth in God, and God in him." 
1 John iii. 24. "Ye are my [dearest] friends, if 
ye do whatsoever I command you," \i. <?., if ye 
attain the perfection of your dispensation.] John 
xv. 14. Once more : " Keep my commandments ; 
and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you 
another Comforter, that he may abide with you for 
ever." John xiv. 15, 16. From these scriptures 
it appears that, under every dispensation, the per- 
fect, or they who keep the commandments, have 
unspeakable advantages, from which the lovers of 
imperfection debar themselves. 

3. Ye bring far less glory to God in the state 
of indwelling sin than ye would do if ye were per- 
fected in love ; for perfect Christians (other things 
being equal) glorify God more than those who 
remain full of inbred iniquity. Hence it is, that 
in the very chapter where our Lord so strongly 
presses Christian perfection upon his disciples, he 
says : " Let your light so shine before men, that 
they may see your good works, and glorify your 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 211 

Father who is in heaven." Matt. v. 16. For, 
" Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much 
fruit." John xv. 8. It is true that the fruit of 
the perfect is not always relished by men, who 
judge only according to appearances ; but God, 
who judges righteous judgment, finds it rich and 
precious ; and, therefore, the two mites which the 
poor widow gave with a cheerful and perfect heart 
were more precious in his account, and brought 
him more glory, than all the money which the 
imperfect worshippers cast into the treasury, 
though some of them cast in much. Hence, also, 
our Lord commanded that the work of perfect 
love .which Mary wrought when she anointed his 
feet for burial, " should be told for a memorial of 
her wherever this [the Christian] gospel should 
be preached in the whole world." Such is the 
honor which the Lord puts upon the branches in 
him that bear fruit to perfection. 

4. The perfect Christian (other things being 
equal) is a more useful member of society than 
the imperfect. Never will ye be such humble 
men, such good parents, such dutiful children, such 
loving brothers, such loyal subjects, such kind 
neighbors, such indulgent husbands, and such 
faithful friends, as when ye shall have obtained 
the perfect sincerity of obedience. Ye will then, 
in your degree, have the simplicity of the gentle 


212 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

dove, the patience of the laborious ox, the courage 
of the magnanimous lion, and the wisdom of the 
wary serpent, without any of its poison. In your 
little sphere of action ye will abound in "the work 
of faith, the patience of hope, and the labor of 
love," far more than ye did before ; for a field 
properly weeded, and cleared from, briers, is na- 
turally more fruitful than one which is shaded by 
spreading brambles, or filled with indwelling roots 
of noxious weeds : it being a capital mistake to 
suppose that the plant of humility thrives best 
when the roots of indwelling sin are twisted round 
its root. 

5. None but "just men made perfect are meet 
to be made partakers of the inheritance among the 
saints in light" an inheritance, this, which no 
man is fit for till he has "purified himself from 
the filthiness of the flesh and spirit." If modern 
divines, therefore, assure you that a believer, full 
of indwelling sin, has a full title to heaven, believe 
them not ; for the Holy Grhost has said that the 
believer who " breaks the law of liberty in one 
point, is guilty of all," and that no defilement shall 
enter into heaven ; and our Lord himself has as- 
sured us that " the pure in heart shall see God," 
and that they who are ready for that sight " went 
in with the bridegroom to the marriage feast of 
the Lamb." And who is ready? Undoubtedly 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 213 

the believer whose lamp is trimmed and burning. 
But is a spiritual lamp trimmed, when its flame is 
darkened by the black fungus of indwelling sin? 
Again : Who shall be' saved into glory, but the 
man whose " heart was washed from iniquity ?" 
But is that heart ^vashed, which continues full of 
indwelling corruption ? Woe, therefore, be to the 
heathens, Jews, and Christians, who trifle away 
" the accepted time," and die without being in a 
state of heathen, Jewish, or Christian perfection! 
They have no chance of going to heaven, but 
through the purgatory preached by the heathens, 
the Papists, and the imperfectionists. And should 
the notions of these purgatories be groundless, it- 
unavoidably follows, that unpurged or imperfect 
souls must, at death, rank with the unready souls 
whom our Lord calls " foolish virgins," and 
against whom, the door of heaven will be shut. 
How awful is this consideration, my dear brethren ! 
How should it make us stretch every nerve till we 
have attained the perfection of our dispensation ! 
I would not encourage tormenting fears in an un- 
scriptural manner ; but I should rejoice if all who 
call Jesus LORD, would mind his solemn declara- 
tions : " I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid 
of them that kill the body, etc. ; but I will fore- 
warn you whom you shall fear : fear Him who, 
after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell ; 


214 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

yea, I say unto you, fear him," who will "burn in 
the fire of wrath those who harbor the indwelling 
man of sin, lest he should be utterly consumed by 
the fire of love. 

Should ye cry out against this doctrine, and ask 
if all imperfect Christians are in a damnable state, 
we reply, that so long as a Christian believer sin- 
cerely presses after Christian perfection, he is safe ; 
because he is in the way of duty ; and were he to 
die at midnight, before midnight Grod would cer- 
tainly bring him. to Christian perfection, or bring 
Christian perfection to him ; for we " are confident 
of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good 
work in them, will perform it until the day of 
Jesus Christ, because they work out their salva- 
tion with fear and trembling." But if a believer 
fall, loiter, and rest upon former experiences, de- 
pending upon a self-made, Pharisaical perfection, 
our chief message to him is that of St. Paul: 
"Awake, thou that sleepest ! Awake to righteous- 
ness, and sin not, for thou hast not the heart- 
purifying knowledge of God, which is eternal life. 
Arise from the dead;" call for oil; "and Christ 
will give thee light." Otherwise thou shalt share 
the dreadful fate of the lukewarm Laodiceans, and 
of the foolish virgins, "whose lamps went out," 
instead of " shining more and more to the perfect 
day." 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 215 

6. This is not all : as ye will be fit for judg- 
ment, and a glorious heaven, when ye shall be 
perfected in love, so you will actually enjoy a 
gracious heaven in your own souls. You will 
possess " within you the kingdom of Grod," which 
consists in settled "righteousness, peace, and joy 
in the Holy Ghost." But so long as ye neglect 
Christian perfection,. and continue sold under in- 
dwelling sin, ye not only risk the loss of the heaven 
of heavens, but ye lose a little heaven upon earth ; 
for perfect Christians are so full of peace and love, 
that they " triumph in Christ, with joy unspeaka- 
ble and full of glory, and rejoice in tribulation 
with a patience which has its perfect work." Yea, 
they " count it all joy when they fall into divers 
trials ;" and such is their deadness to the world, 
that they " are exceeding glad when men say all 
manner of evil of them falsely for Christ's sake." 
How desirable is such a state ! And who, but the 
blessed above, can enjoy a happiness superior to 
him who can say : " I am ready to be offered up. 
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin 
is the law; but, death, where is thy sting?" 
Not in my heart,, since " the righteousness of the 
law is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, 
but after the Spirit." Not in my mind, " for to be 
spiritually-minded is life and peace." Now, this 


216 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

peculiar happiness ye lose, so long as ye continue 
imperfect Christians. 

7. But supposing a Christian who dies in a state 
of Christian imperfection can escape damnation, 
and make shift to get to heaven j it is certain that 
he cannot go into the glorious mansion of perfect 
Christians, nor shine among the stars of the first 
magnitude. The wish of my soul is, that, if God's 
wisdom has so ordered it, imperfect Christians may 
one day rank among perfect Jews, or perfect 
heathens. But even upon this supposition, what 
will they do with their indwelling sin? For a 
perfect Gentile, and a perfect Jew, are "without 
guile," according to their light, as well as a perfect 
Christian. Lean not, then, to the doctrine of the 
continuance of indwelling sin till death a doc- 
trine, this, on which a Socrates or a Job would be 
afraid to mention his heathen perfection, and eter- 
nal salvation. On the contrary, by Christian per- 
fection ye may rise to the brightest crowns of 
righteousness, and " shine like the sun in the king- 
dom of your Father." for a noble ambition to 
obtain one of the first seats in glory! for a 
constant, evangelical striving to have the most 
" abundant entrance ministered unto you into the 
kingdom of God !" for a throne among these 
peculiarly redeemed saints, who "sing the new 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 217 

song, which none can learn" but themselves. It 
is not Christ's to give those exalted thrones out 
of mere distinguishing grace : no, they may be 
forfeited; for they shall be given to those for 
whom they are prepared ; and they are prepared 
for them who, evangelically speaking, are worthy : 
" They shall walk with me in white, for they are 
worthy," says Christ ; and they shall " sit at my 
right hand, and at my left, in my kingdom," who 
shall be worthy of that honor : " For them that 
honor me," says the Lord, " I will honor, Behold 
I come quickly : my reward is with me, and I 
will render to every man according to his works." 
And what reward, think ye, will Christ give you, 
my dear, mistaken brethren, if he find you still 
passing jests upon the doctrine of Christian per- 
fection, which he so strongly recommends ? still 
pleading for the continuance of indwelling sin, 
which he so greatly abhors ? 

8. Your whole system of indwelling sin and 
imputed perfection stands upon two of the most 
dangerous and false maxims which were ever ad- 
vanced. The first, which begets Antinomian pre- 
sumption, runs thus : " Sin cannot destroy us, 
either in this world or in the world to come." And 
the second, which is productive of Antinomian 
despair, is : " Sin cannot be destroyed in, this 
world." how hard is it for those who worship 


218 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

where these syren songs pass for sweet songs of 
Zion, not to be drawn into one of these fatal con- 
clusions ! " What need is there of attacking sin 
with so much eagerness, since, even in the name 
of the Lord, I cannot destroy it? And why 
should I resist it with so much watchfulness, 
since my eternal ' life and salvation are absolutely 
secured, and the most poisonous cup of iniquity 
cannot destroy me, though I should drink of it 
every day for months or years ?" If ye fondly 
think that ye can neither go backward into a sin- 
ful, cursed Egypt, nor yet go forward into a sin- 
less, holy Canaan, how natural will it be for you 
to say, " Soul, take thine ease," and rest a while in 
this wilderness on the pillow of self-imputed per- 
fection ? ! how many are surprised by the mid- 
night cry, in this Laodicean rest ! What numbers 
meet death with a Solindian " Lord ! Lord !" in 
their mouths, and with indwelling sin in their 
hearts ! And how inexpressible will be our 
horror, if we perceive our want of holiness and 
Christian perfection, only when it will be too late 
to attain them ! To conclude : 

9. Indwelling sin is not only "the sting of 
death," but the very hell of hells, if I may use the 
expression; for a sinless saint in a local hell 
would dwell in a holy, loving Grod ; and, of con- 
sequence, in a spiritual heaven. Like Shadrach, 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 219 

in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace, he might have 
devouring flames curling about him, but, within 
him, he would still have the flame of Divine love, 
and the joy of a good conscience. But so much 
of indwelling sin as we carry about us, so much of 
indweUwg hell; so much of the sting which pierces 
the damned; so much of the spiritual fire which 
will burn up the wicked ; so much of the never- 
dying worm which will prey upon them ; so 
much of the dreadful instrument which will rack 
them ; so much of Satan's image which will fright- 
en them ; so much of the characteristic by which 
the devil's children shall be distinguished from the 
children of Grod; so much of the black mark 
whereby the goats shall be separated from the 
sheep. To plead, therefore, for the continuance 
of indwelling sin, is no better than to plead for 
keeping in your hearts one of the sharpest stings 
of death, and one of the hottest coals in hell-fire. 
On the other hand, to attain Christian perfection 
is to have the last feature of Belial's image erased 
from your loving souls, the last bit of the sting 
of death extracted from your composed breasts, 
and the last spark of hell-fire extinguished in 
your peaceful bosoms. It is to enter into the 
spiritual rest which remains on earth for .the peo- 
ple of Grod a delightful rest, this, where your 
soul will enjoy a calm in the midst of outward 


220 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

storm; and where your spirit will no longer "be 
tossed "by the billows of swelling pride, dissatisfied 
avarice, pining envy, disappointed hopes, fruitless 
cares, dubious anxiety, turbulent anger, fretting 
impatience, and racking unbelief. It is to enjoy 
that even state of mind in which all things will 
work together for your good. There your love 
will bear its excellent fruits during the sharpest 
winter of affliction, as well as in the -finest summer 
of prosperity. There you will be more and more 
settled in peaceful humility. There you will con- 
tinually grow in a holy familiarity with the Friend 
of penitent sinners, and your prospect of eternal 
felicity will brighten every day.* 

Innumerable are the advantages which estab- 
lished, perfect Christians have over carnal, unset- 
tled believers, who continue sold under indwelling 
sin. And Will ye despise those blessings to your 
dying -day, ye prejudiced imperfectionists ? 
Will ye secure to yourselves the contrary curses ? 

* If the arguments and expostulations contained in these sheets 
be rational and scriptural, is not Mr. Wesley in the right "when lie 
says that "all preachers should make a point of preaching perfec- 
tion to believers, constantly, strongly, and explicitly;" and that 
''all believers should mind this one thing, and continually agonize 
for it ?" And do not all the ministers -who preach against Christian 
perfection, preach against the perfection of Christianity, oppose 
holiness, resist the sanctifying truth as it is in Jesus, recommend an 
unscriptural purgatory, plead for sin, instead of striving against it, 
and delude imperfect Christians into Laodicean, ease ? 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 221 

Nay, will ye entail them, upon the generations 
which are yet unborn, by continuing to print, 
preach, or argue for the continuance of indwelling 
sin, the capital woe belonging to the devil and his 
angels ? God forbid ! "We hope better things 
from you ; not doubting but the error of several 
of you lies chiefly in your judgment, and springs 
from a misunderstanding of the question, rather 
than from a malicious opposition to that "holi- 
ness without which no man shall see the Lord." 
With pleasure we remember and follow St. Jude's 
loving direction : " Of some [the simple-hearted, 
who are seduced into Antinoinianisni] have com- 
passion, making a difference; and others [the 
bigots and obstinate seducers, who wilfully shut 
their eyes against the truth] save with fear, hating 
even the garment spotted by the flesh ;" although 
they will not be ashamed to plead for the contin- 
uance of a defiling fountain of carnality in the 
very hearts of all God's people. We are fully per- 
suaded, my dear brethren, that we should wrong 
you if we did not acknowledge that many of you 
have a sincere desire to be saved by Christ into 
all purity of heart and life ; and with regard to 
such imperfectionists, our chief complaint is, that 
their desire is " not according to knowledge." 

If others of you, of a different stamp, should 
laugh at these pages, and (still producing banter 


222 CHBISTIAN PERFECTION. 

instead of argument) should continue to say: 
" Where are your perfect Christians ? Show us 
but one, and we will believe your doctrine of per- 
fection;" I shall just put them in mind of St. 
Peter's awful prophecy : " Know this first, that 
there shall conie in the last days scoffers walking- 
after their own [indwelling] lusts, and saying, 
Wliere is the promise of his spiritual coming [to 
make an end of sin, thoroughly to purge his floor, 
and to burn the chaff with unquenchable fire ?] 
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue 
as they were from the beginning ':" all believers are 
still carnal and sold under sin, as well as father 
Paul. And if such mockers continue to display 
their prejudice by such taunts, I shall take the 
liberty to show them their own picture, by point- 
ing at those prejudiced professors of old, who 
said, concerning the most perfect of all the per- 
fect : " What sign showest thou, that we may re- 
ceive thy doctrine ? Come down from the cross, 
and we will believe." the folly and danger of 
such scoffs ! " Blessed is he that sitteth not in 
the seat of the scornful," and maketh . much of 
them "that fear the Lord." Yea, he is blessed 
next to them "that are undefiled in the way, 
who walk in the law of the Lord, keep his tes- 
timonies, and seek him with their whole heart." 
Ps. cxix. 1, 2. 


CHEISTIAN PERFECTION. 223 

Should ye ask : " To what purpose do you 
make all this ado about Christian perfection ? Do 
those who maintain this doctrine live more holy 
and useful lives than other believers ?" I answer : 

1. Every thing being equal, they undoubtedly 
do, if they hold not the truth in unrighteousness ; 
for the best principles, when they are cordially 
embraced, will always produce the best practices. 
But, alas ! too many merely contend for Christian 
perfection in a speculative, systematical manner. 
They recommend it to others with their lips, as a 
point of doctrine which makes a part of their re- 
ligious system ; instead of following after it with 
their hearts, as a blessing which they must attain, 
if they will not be found as unprepared for judg- 
ment as the foolish virgins. These perfectionists 
are, so far, hypocrites ; nor should their fatal in- 
consistency make us to despise the truth which 
they contend for, any more than the conduct of 
thousands, who contend for the truth of the Scrip- 
tures, while they live in full opposition to the 
Scriptures, ought to make us despise the Bible. 

2. On .the other hand, some gracious persons 
speak against Christian perfection with their lips, 
but cannot help following hard after it with their 
hearts ; and while they do so, they sometimes 
attain the thing, -although they continue to quar- 
rel with the name. These perfect imperfectionists 


224 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

undoubtedly adorn, the gospel of Christ far more 
than the imperfect, hypocritical perfectionists 
whom I have just described ; and God, who looks 
at the simplicity of the heart more than at the 
consistency of the judgment, pities their mistakes, 
and accepts their works. 

But, 3. Some there are who both maintain 
doctrinally and practically the necessity of a per- 
fect devotedness of themselves to God. They 
hold the truth, and they hold it in wisdom and 
righteousness ; their tempers and conduct enforce 
it, as well as their words and profession. And 
on this account they have a great advantage over 
the two preceding classes of professors. Reason 
and revelation jointly crown the orthodoxy and 
faithfulness of these perfect perfectionists , who nei- 
ther strengthen the hands of the wicked, nor excite 
the wonder of the judicious, by absurdly plead- 
ing for indwelling sin with their lips, while they 
strive to work righteousness with their hands 
and hearts. If ye candidly weigh this threefold 
distinction, I doubt not but ye will blame the 
irrational inconsistency of holy imperfectionists, 
condemn the moral inconsistency of unholy perfec- 
tionists, and agree with me that the most excellent 
Christian is a consistent, holy perfectionist. 

And now, my dear, mistaken brethren, take in 
good part these plain solutions, expostulations, 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 225 

and . reproofs ; and give glory to God, by believ- 
ing that he can and will yet save you to the 
uttermost from your evil tempers, if ye hum- 
bly come to him by Christ. Day and night 
ask of him the new heart, which " keeps the com- 
mandments;" and when ye shall have received 
it, if you keep it with all diligence, sin shall no 
more pollute it, than it polluted our Lord's soul, 
when he said : " If ye keep my commandments, 
ye shall abide in my love ; even as I have kept 
my Father's commandments, and abide in his 
love." Burn, in the meantime, the unhallowed 
pens, and bridle the rash tongues, with which 
ye have pleaded for the continuance of sin till 
death. Honor us with the right hand of fellow- 
ship; and, like reconciled brethren, let us, at 
every opportunity, lovingly fall upon our knees 
together, to implore the help of Him who "can 
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask 
or think." JSTor let us give him any rest, till 
he has perfected all our souls in "the charity 
which rejoiceth- in the truth" without prejudice, 
in the obedience which keeps the command- 
ments without reserve, and in the perseverance 
which finds that "in keeping qf them there is 
great reward." 

Nothing but such a conduct as this can re- 
move the stumbling-blocks which the conten- 
8 


226 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

tions ye breed have laid in the way of a Deisti- 
cal world. When the men whom your mistakes 
have hardened shall see that you listen to Scrip- 
ture and reason, who knows but their prejudices 
may subside, and some of them may yet say : 
" See the good which arises from friendly contro- 
versy ! See how these Christians desire to be 
perfected in one ! They now understand one 
another. Babylonish confusion is at an. end ; evan- 
gelical truth prevails ; and love, the most delicious 
fruit of truth, visibly grows to Christian perfection." 
Grod grant that, through the concurrence of your 
candor, this may soon be the language of all those 
whom the bigotry of professors has confirmed in 
their prejudices against Christianity ! 

Should this plain address so far influence you, 
my dear brethren, as to abate the force of your 
aversion to the doctrine of pure love, or to stagger 
your unaccountable faith in a death-purgatory; 
and should you seriously ask which is the way to 
Christian perfection, I entreat you to pass on to 
the next section, where, I hope, you will find a 
scriptural answer to some important questions, 
which, I trust, a few of you are by this time ready 
to propose. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 227 


CHAPTER XVI. 

ADDRESS TO THOSE WHO DESIRE CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


felt the pardoning efficacy of the aton- 
ing blood of Christ, as you now desire, dear breth- 
ren, to "go on to perfection" to experience the 
fulness of its power in the complete redemption of 
your souls from all sin, from its pollution as well 
as its power ye will gladly receive any instruc- 
tion, however humble the source, that may help 
you to this most desirable attainment. Te see 
the absolute necessity of personally "fulfilling the 
law of Christ ;" your bosom glows with desire to 
"perfect holiness in the fear of God;" and, far 
from blushing to be called perfectionists, ye openly 
assert that perfect faith, productive of perfect love 
to Grod and man, is the pearl of great price, for 
which ye are determined to Sell all, and which, 
through Christ, ye will seek early and late, as the 
one thing needful for your spiritual and eternal 
welfare. 


228 CHRISTIAN PEBFECTION. 

I. In the first place, then, get tolerably clear 
ideas of this perfection. This is absolutely neces- 
sary. If you would hit a mark, you must know 
where it is. Some people aim at Christian per- 
fection ; but, mistaking for it angelical perfection, 
they shoot above the mark, miss it, and then 
peevishly give up their hopes. Others place the 
mark as much too low : hence it is that you hear 
them profess to have attained Christian perfection, 
when they have not so much as attained the men- 
tal serenity of a philosopher, or the candor of a 
good-natured, conscientious heathen. In the pre- 
ceding pages, if I am not mistaken, the mark is 
fixed according to the rules of scriptural modera- 
tion. It is not placed so high as to make you 
despair of hitting it, if you do your best in an 
evangelical manner, nor yet so low as to allow 
you to presume to reach it without exerting all 
your ability to the uttermost, in due subordination 
to the efficacy of Jesus's blood, and the Spirit's 
sanctifying influences. 

II. [We must believe that this doctrine is 
taught in the word of Grod. If we have any set- 
tled doubt on this point, our search will prove 
vain, for " he that' doubteth is condemned" to dis- 
appointment, without any reasonable hope of suc- 
cess until his doubts are removed. Without full, 
satisfactory conviction on this point, there is no 


.CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 229 

going one step farther. We must also be satisfied 
of its attainability in this life by all truly earnest, 
persevering seekers. And if any one has ever attain- 
ed it, why may not I ? for " God is no respecter of 
persons, but in every nation he that feareth Glod is 
accepted of him." These things have been fully 
discussed, and, we trust, settled to your satisfac- 
tion, in the former parts of this work. 

III. As steam is to the engine, so is desire to 
the mind. It is the propelling power. Without 
it all effort would be enervated, and all enterprises 
would stagnate. But a considerable quantity of 
steam is necessary to move the engine at all, and 
still more to move the boat ; yet it will be of no 
use unless sufficiently high to propel the boat 
against wind and current. So, a weak desire 
will avail nothing. There may be, and doubt- 
less is, desire latent in the bosom of every 
Christian to be wholly a Christian; yet it must 
be strong and earnest enough to engage one's 
powers sufficiently to commence heartily the 
work of self-purification to call forth to vigorous 
exercise every energy in the arduous and unceas- 
ing labors and self-denials of a life of entire holi- 
ness. Desire, strong, controlling, overwhelming 
desire is essential to prepare us for the all-import- 
ant work, and urge us on to take the subsequent 
steps in its attainment. 


230 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

And is not holiness of heart infinitely more de- 
sirable than all earthly good? What honor is 
equal to the honor of being a perfectly holy child 
of God ? What wealth can weigh against the all- 
abounding riches of grace in Christ Jesus ? What 
pleasure can compare with the love, joy, and peace 
in the Holy Ghost, which are the hourly compan- 
ions of the holy heart ? What hopes like those 
which become brilliantly visible and sensibly pre- 
sent by the aid of the constantly-adjusted telescope 
of faith ? 0, why do not our hearts constantly 
burn with intense desire for full conformity to the 
will and image of our Heavenly Father ?] 

IV. Set out for the Canaan of perfect love with 
a firm resolution to labor for the rest that remains 
on earth for the people of God. You will never 
steadily go on to perfection till you do. Let others 
laugh at you for making humble resolutions, but go 
on " steadfastly purposing to lead a new life," and, 
in order to this, steadfastly purpose to get a new 
heart, in the full sense of the word ; for so long as 
your heart remains unrenewed, it will be partly 
unholy. And therefore St. James justly observes 
that " if any offend not in word, he is a perfect 
man :" he loves God with all his heart ; his heart 
is fully renewed ; it being impossible that a heart 
still tainted in part with vanity and guile should 
always dictate words of sincerity and love. Tour 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 231 

good resolutions need not fail ; nor will they fail, 
if, under a due sense of the fickleness and help- 
lessness of your unassisted free-will, you properly 
depend upon Clod's faithfulness and assistance. 
However, should they fail, as they probably will 
do more than once, be not discouraged, but repent, 
search out the cause, and, in the strength of free 
grace, let your assisted free-will renew your evan- 
gelical purpose till the Lord seals it with his 
mighty fiat, and says : " Let it be done to thee 
according to thy resolving faith." It is better to 
be laughed at as " poor creatures who know nothing 
of themselves," than to be deluded as foolish vir- 
gins who fondly imagine that their vessels are full 
of imputed oil. Conscious of your impotence, yet 
in the strength of Divine grace, resolve, " I will 
arise and go to my Father ;" and say, with David, 
" I will love thee, Lord my Grod ; I will behold 
thy face in righteousness ; I am purposed that my 
mouth shall not transgress; I will keep it, as it 
were, with a bridle; I have said that I would 
keep thy word : the proud and they that are 
humble in an unscriptural way have had me ex- 
ceedingly in derision, but I will keep thy precepts 
with my whole heart. I have sworn, and I will 
perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judg- 
ments." Say, with St. Paul, " I am determined 
not to know any thing save Jesus and him cruci- 


232 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

* 

fied ;" and with Jacob : " I will not let thee go, 
unless tliou bless me." And, to sum up all good 
resolutions in one, say : " I have engaged to re- 
nounce all the vanities of this wicked world, all 
the sinful lusts of the flesh, and all the works 
of the devil; to believe all the articles of the 
Christian faith ; and to keep God's commandments 
all the days of my life;" that is, I have most sol- 
emnly resolved to be a perfect Christian. 

" Much diligence," says Kempis, " is necessary 
to him that will profit much. If he who firmly 
purposeth much, often faileth, what shall he do 
who seldom or feebly purposeth any thing ?" But 
I say it again and again, do not lean upon your 
free-will and good purposes so as to encroach upon 
the glorious preeminence of free grace. Lay your 
principal stress upon Divine mercy, and say with 
the good man whom I have just quoted : " Help 
me, Lord God, in thy holy service, and grant 
that I may now, this day, begin perfectly." 

[What is fully intended, is half accomplished. 
When you have thoroughly determined to be a 
perfect Christian, to follow implicitly the lead- 
ings of the Spirit in all things, you have pro- 
ceeded far on the way to Christian perfection. 
On the other hand, we accomplish no work of im- 
portance and difficulty without first intending to 
do it. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 233 

V. The next step in this work is repentance : 
not the repentance of the guilty, unregenerate sin- 
ner ; for the guilt of th'e person whom we address 
is supposed to he cancelled his pardon for all 
past offences sealed by the Holy Spirit. But it 
consists in deep contrition of soul, induced by the 
felt consciousness that his nature is not yet com- 
pletely under the control of the Divine life within. 
It is intense grief that he is not in all things under 
the guidance of the Spirit of Christ; painful re- 
gret that every passion and proclivity is not 
wholly conformable to the will of his Heavenly 
Father. 

"The repentance consequent upon justification," 
says the Rev. J. Wesley, in his sermon on the 
" Scripture Way of Salvation," " is widely different 
from that which is antecedent to it. This implies 
no guilt, no sense of condemnation, no conscious- 
ness of the wrath of God. It 4<>es not suppose 
any doubt of the favor of God, or any e fear that 
hath torment.' It is properly a conviction, wrought 
by the Holy Ghost, of the sin which still remains 
in our heart of the ^pov^a aapitog, the carnal mind, 
which 'does still remain even in them that are 
regenerate,' although it does no longer reign it 
has not now dominion over them. It is a convic- 
tion of our proneness to evil, of a heart bent to 
backsliding, of the still continuing tendency of the 


234 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

flesh to lust against the Spirit. Sometimes, unless 
we continually watch and pray, it lusteth to pride, 
sometimes to anger, sometimes to love of the world, 
love of ease, love of honor, or love of pleasure, 
more than of Gpd. It is a conviction of the ten- 
dency of our heart to self-will, to atheism, or 
idolatry, and, above all, to unbelief, whereby, in a 
thousand ways and under a thousand pretences, 
we are ever departing more or less from the living 
God. 

" With this conviction of sin remaining in our 
hearts, there is joined a clear conviction of the sin 
remaining in our lives, still cleaving to all our 
words and actions. In the best of these we now 
discern a mixture of evil, either in the spirit, the 
matter, or the manner of them; something that 
could not endure the righteous judgment of God, 
were he extreme to mark what is done amiss. 
Where we least ^suspected it, we find a taint of 
pride or self-will, of unbelief or idolatry; so that 
we are now more ashamed of our best duties than 
formerly of our worst sins ; and hence w> cannot 
but feel that these are, so far from having any 
thing meritorious in them yea, so far from being 
able to stand in sight of the Divine justice that 
for those also we should be guilty before God, 
were it not for the blood of the covenant. 

" Experience shows that, together with the con- 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 235 

viction of sin remaining in our hearts, and cleaving 
to our words and actions as well as the guilt 
which, on account thereof, we should incur, were 
we not continually sprinkled with the atoning 
bbocl one thing more is implied in this repent- 
ance, viz. : a conviction of our helplessness, of our 
utter inability to think one good thought, or to 
form one good desire ; and, much more, to speak 
one word aright, or to perform one good action, 
but through his free, almighty grace, first pre- 
venting us, and then accompanying us every mo- 
ment."] 

To promote this deep repentance, consider how 
many spiritual evils still haunt your breast. Look 
into the inward " chamber of imagery," where as- 
suming self-love, surrounded by a multitude of 
vain thoughts, foolish desires, and wild imagina- 
tions, keeps her court. Grieve that your heart, 
which should be all flesh, is partly stone, and that 
your soul, which should be only a temple for the 
Holy Grhost, is yet so frequently turned into a den 
of thieves, a hole for the cockatrice, a nest for a 
brood of spiritual vipers for the remains of envy, 
jealousy, fretfulness, anger, pride, impatience, 
peevishness, formality, sloth, prejudice, bigotry, 
carnal confidence, evil shame, self-righteousness, 
tormenting fears, uncharitable suspicions, idola- 
trous love, and I know not how many of the evils 


236 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

which form the retinue of hypocrisy and unbelief. 
Through grace detect these evils by a close atten- 
tion to what passes in your own heart at all times, 
especially in an hour of temptation. By frequent 
and deep confessions, drag out all these abomina- 
tions, these sins which would not have Christ 
to reign alone over you : bring them before him ; 
place them in the light of his countenance ; and, 
if you do it in faith, that light and the warmth of 
his love will kill them, as the light and heat of the 
sun kill the worms which the plough turns up to 
the open air in a dry summer's day. Lament, as 
you are able, the darkness of your mind, the stub- 
bornness of your will, the dulness or exorbitancy 
of your affections, and importunately entreat the 
Grod of all grace to " renew a right spirit within 
you." If ye sorrow after a godly sort, "what 
carefulness will be wrought in you ! what indig- 
nation ! what fear ! what vehement desire ! what 
zeal ! yea, what revenge !" You will then sing in 
faith : 

" how I hate those lusts of mine, 

That crucified my God ; 
Those sins that pierced and nailed his flesh 
Fast to the fatal -wood ! 

"Yes, my Redeemer, they shall die, 

My heart hath so decreed ; 
Nor will I spare those guilty things 
That made my Saviour bleed. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 237 

"While, -with a melting, broken heart, 

My murdered Lord I view, 
I '11 raise revenge against my sins, 
And slay the murderers too." 

[The author just quoted, in his sermon on 
"Repentance of Believers" to all of which the 
attention of the reader is earnestly referred says 
further : " It is the consciousness of this that we 
still retain a depth of sin which constrains us to 
groan for a full deliverance to Him that is mighty 
to save. Hence it is that those believers who are 
not convinced of the deep corruption of their 
hearts, or but slightly and, as it were, notionally 
convinced, have little concern about entire sane- 
tifieation. They may possibly hold the opin- 
ion that such a thing is to be, either at death, or 
some time, they know not-when, before it. But 
they have no great uneasiness . for the want of 
it, and no great hunger or thirst after it. They 
cannot, until they know themselves better, until 
they repent in the sense above described, until 
God unveils the inbred monster's face, and 
shows them the real state of their souls. Then 
only, when they feel the burden, will they groan 
for deliverance from it. Then, and not till then, 
will they cry out in the agony of their souls : 

" 'Break off the yoke of inbred sin, 

And fully set my spirit free ! 
I cannot rest till pure -within, 
Till I am wholly lost in thee !"' 


238 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

VI. Before our God can be expected to mani- 
fest himself as our Redeemer from all sin, as our 
all in all, we must give ourselves wholly to him. 
We must make an unconditional, unreserved, and 
eternal consecration of ourselves, with all our pos- 
sessions, our friendships, our families, our hopes, 
our all, to Him " whose offspring we are, in whom 
we live and move and have our being ;" fully real- 
izing that " we are not our own, but that we are 
bought with a price." 

1. This must be an unconditional giving up of 
ourselves. Some may imagine that they are 
" doing G-od service" when they feel willing to 
present themselves wholly to him, if he will ac- 
cept and sanctify them j or that so long as he will 
accept, they will continue the offering. Such is 
no sacrifice at all, but merely a proposal to bargain 
with him, which he, of course, cannot accept. 
If we have not confidence enough in him to make 
an unconditional surrender at discretion, it is vain 
to attempt the exercise of that higher faith to 
which you will yet be called before accomplishing 
this great work. 

2. Every power of our being must we devote 
to him. A holocaust, or nothing. You must keep 
back nothing, lest you be found to "lie unto the 
Holy Grhost." We must fully fix our affections on 
him as the true source of our happiness, looking 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 239 

for joy in nothing which he does not heartily ap- 
prove, loving only him and what he desires we 
should love. Our intellect we must engage in 
planning and in carrying out plans for promoting in 
some way the interests of his kingdom, in study- 
ing his will and in fulfilling it our senses in con- 
veying to the mind such impressions as may ena- 
ble us to honor him and, also, our physical facul- 
ties in doing what is consonant with his will in 
short, in " glorifying God in our bodies and spirits," 
which we freely, and in the fullest sense, acknow- 
ledge to be his. In all worldly goods acting as his 
stewards, expending them only as we may be con- 
vinced will accord with his will ; considering our- 
selves the voluntary slaves of the Lord our 
rightful, absolute Master and to be entirely sub- 
servient to his will. 

3. It must not onlv be a total, unreserved con- 

v s 

secration, but an eternal self-immolation upon the 
altar of Divine service. As there must be no 
reserve, so must there be no withdrawal of the 
offering. For life and for eternity, should be your 
motto. If, when you make the offering, you in- 
dulge the thought of ever withdrawing it, you 
have the surest proof that it is not acceptable. 
For this were a mock offering a mere service of 
the lips. And we should remember that, however 


240 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

much we may deceive others, and even ourselves, 
" God is not mocked." 

When thus wholly consecrated to God, you will 
not shrink from bearing the cross, though you find 
it so heavy as to faint beneath the load ; nor even 
then will you throw it off, but wait on God until 
he gives you new accessions of strength from on 
high. You will find, however opposed by the 
clarnorings of self-indulgence, no duty too unplea- 
sant to be undertaken, or too arduous to be ac- 
complished, "through Christ who strengthened 
you."] 

Another consequence of this self-devotion is the 
practice of a judicious, universal self-denial. " If 
thou wilt be perfect," says our Lord, " deny thy- 
self, take up thy cross daily, and follow me." " He 
' that loveth father or mother much more, he that 
loveth praise, pleasure, or money more than me, 
is not worthy of me." Nay, " whosoever will save 
his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose it for 
my sake shall find it." Many desire to live and 
reign with Christ, but few choose to suffer and die 
with him. However, as the way of the cross 
leads to heaven, it undoubtedly leads to Chris- 
tian perfection. To avoid the cross, therefore, 
or to decline drinking the vinegar and gall which 
God permits your friends or foes to mingle for 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 241 

you, is to refuse a medicine which is kindly pre- 
pared to restore your health and appetite ; in a 
word, it is to renounce the Physician who " heals 
all our infirmities" when we take his bitter 
draughts, submit to have our imposthumes opened 
by his sharp lancet, and yield to have our proud 
flesh wasted away by his painful caustics. 

[A third result of this self-devotion is a willing 
submission to the whole will of God ; not only to 
be active in performing all the requirements of his 
law, but also to be meekly resigned under all the 
temptations and sufferings which we may have to 
undergo.] Our Lord " was made a perfect Saviour 
through sufferings," and we may be made perfect 
Christians in the same manner. We may be called 
to suffer till all that which we have brought out 
of spiritual Egypt is consumed in a howling wil- 
derness, in a dismal Gethsemane, or on a shame- 
ful Calvary. Should this lot be reserved for us, 
let us not imitate our Lord's imperfect disciples, 
who " forsook him and fled," but let us stand the 
fiery trial till all our fetters are melted and our 
dross is purged away. Fire is of a purgative na- 
ture it separates the dross from the gold; and 
the fiercer it is, the more quick and powerful is its 
operation. " He that is left in Zion, and he that 
remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, when 
the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the 


242 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

""' . 

daughters of Zion, and shall have purged away 
the blood of Jerusalem by the Spirit of judgment 
and the Spirit of burning." Isaiah iv. 3, 4. "I 
will bring the third part through the fire, saith the 
Lord, and will refine them as silver is refined, and 
will try them as gold is tried : they shall call on 
my name, and I will hear them : I will say, It is 
my people ; and they shall say, The Lord is my 
God." Zech. xiii. 9. Therefore, if the Lord shall 
suffer the best men in the camp, or the strongest 
men in Satan's army, to cast you into a furnace of 
fiery temptations, come not out of it till you are 
called. "Let patience have its perfect work:" 
meekly keep your trying station, till your heart is 
disengaged from all that is earthly, and till the 
sense of God's preserving power kindles in you 
such a faith in his omnipotent love as few experi- 
mentally know, but they who have seen them- 
selves, like the mysterious bush in Horeb, burning 
and yet unconsumed ; or they who can say with 
St. Paul : " We are killed all the day long dying, 
and behold we live !" 

" Temptations," says Kempis, " are often very 
profitable to men, though they be troublesome and 
grievous ; for in them a man is humbled, purified, 
and instructed . All the saints have passed through 
and profited by many tribulations ; and they that 
could not bear temptations, became reprobates, and 


C H HI S T I A N : P E B, F E C T 10 N. 243 

fell away." " My son/' adds the author of Eccle- 
siasticus chap. ii. 1 " if thou come to serve the 
Lord" in the perfect beauty of holiness, " prepare 
thy soul for temptation. Set thy heart aright ; 
constantly endure, and make not haste in the time 
of 'trouble. Whatever is brought upon thee, take 
cheerfully ; and be patient when thou art changed 
to a low estate ; for gold is tried and purified in 
the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of ad- 
versity." And therefore says St. James : " Bless- 
ed is the man that endureth temptation ; for when 
he is tried if he stands the trial he shall receive 
the crown of life which the Lord has promised to 
them that love him" with the love which endureth 
all things, that is, with perfect love. James i. 12. 
Patiently endure, then, when God " for a season 
if need be suffers you to be in heaviness through 
manifold temptations." By this means, " the trial 
of your faith, being much more precious than that 
of gold which perisheth, though it be tried in the 
fire, will be found unto praise, and honor, and 
glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." 1 
Peter i. 7. 

^ VII. Deep repentance is good, gospel self- 
denial is excellent, and patient resignation in 
trials is of unspeakable use to attain the perfection 
of love ; but as v faith immediately works by love," 
it is of far more immediate use to purify the soul. 


244 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

Hence it is that Christ, the prophets, and the 
apostles, so strongly insist upon faith ; assuring us 
that " if we will not believe we shall not be estab- 
lished ;" that " if we will believe, we shall see the 
glory of God ; we shall be saved, and livers of liv- 
ing water shall flow from our inmost souls ; that 
our hearts are purified by faith, and that we are 
saved by grace through faith." They tell us that 
Christ " gave himself for the Church, that he might 
sanctify and cleanse it by the word ; that he 
might present it to himself a glorious Church, not 
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but 
that it should be holy and without blemish." Now, 
if believers are to be " cleansed and made without 
blemish" by the word which testifies of the all- 
atoning blood and the love of the Spirit it is 
evident that they are to be sanctified by faith ; 
for faith, or believing, has as necessary a reference 
to the word, as eating has to food. For the same 
reason, the apostle observes that they "who believe 
do enter into rest ;" that, "a promise being given us 
to enter in, we should take care not to fall short 
of it through unbelief;" that we ought to take 
warning by the Israelites, who " could not enter" 
into the land of promise, " through unbelief ;". that 
that we are " filled with all joy and peace in be- 
lieving ;" and that " Christ is able to save to the 
uttermost them who come unto Grod through him." 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 245 

Now, coming, in Scripture language, is another ex- 
pression for believing : "He that cometh to God 
must believe," says the apostle. Hence it appears 
that faith is peculiarly necessary to those who will 
he " saved to the uttermost," especially a firm faith 
in the capital promise of the gospel of Christ, the 
promise of the " Spirit of holiness," from the 
Father, through the Son. For "how shall they 
call on him in whom they have not believed?" 
Or how can they earnestly plead the truth and 
steadily wait for the performance of a promise in 
which they have no faith ? This doctrine of faith 
is supported by the words of St. Peter : " God, 
who knoweth the hearts of penitent believers 
bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, 
purifying their hearts by faith." Acts xv. 8, 9. 
For the same Spirit of faith, which initially purifies 
our hearts when we cordially believe the "pardon- 
ing love of God, completely cleanses them when we 
fully believe his sanctifying love. 

[" Faith," as defined by the apostle, " is a full 
persuasion of things hoped for, a clear demonstra- 
tion of things invisible." The faith by which we 
are sanctified does not differ essentially from the 
faith by which we are justified. In each case it 
has Christ for its object ; in each, it is an acknow- 
ledgment of our own sinfulness, helplessness, de- 
pendence, and necessity; and that we have no 


246 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

other possible source of deliverance than Christ. 
The difference is in the object for which we look 
to him. In one case, we look to his blood as a 
sufficient atonement for the pardon of all our 
transgressions ; in the other, we look to the same 
blood as spilt to wash away all our uncleanness 
as completely capable of thoroughly renovating 
our moral nature, so as wholly to conform it to the 
will of God. He that has an intellectual compre- 
hension of the one can easily understand the other; 
and as those whom we address have an experi- 
mental acquaintance with justifying faith, we 
would refer them to their former experience, and 
ask them to accept Christ in the same way as their 
Redeemer from the pollution of sin as formerly, 
and, at present, from its guilt. 

]?aith, in reference to sanctification, is, 1. A 
conviction, as clear as demonstration can make -it, 
that it is promised in God's word. "Till thor- 
oughly satisfied of this, there is no moving one 
step farther. And one would imagine that there 
needed not one word more to satisfy a reasonable 
man of this than the ancient promise, 4 Then will 
I circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, 
to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and 
with all thy soul.' How clearly does this express 
the being perfected in love ! how strongly imply 
the being saved from all sin ! For as long as love 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 247 

takes up the whole heart, what room is there for 
sin therein ?" 2. It is such a conviction that 
God with whom nothing is impossible is able 
and willing to confer it on me. 3. It is such a 
conviction and persuasion that he is able and will- 
ing and ready to sanctify me now. And why not 
now ? Does he not say, "Now is the accepted 
time, now is the day of salvation ?" And can any 
thing be gained by delay ? Can God become more 
willing ? Or can procrastination, which is, at the 
same time, the offspring and promoter of rebellion, 
better the heart or render it worthy of the favor 
of God ? When God says " now," by what right 
do you postpone, and cry out for a " convenient 
season" in the future ? 4. To this must be added 
a full persuasion, an unwavering conviction of his 
readiness and ability to save me now just as lam; 
to sanctify my nature as corrupt, as alienated from 
him as it is, without waiting to make myself any 
better, or any more fit for the exercise of his 
purifying energy. You will have to come to this 
point before you can possibly attain the end. And 
why put it off? Did not Christ come to save 
those who feel themselves sinners ? And if you 
could fit yourselves for God's favor, what need 
would you have for Christ? When you come, 
thus casting your whole soul, your entire destiny, 
upon the Lamb of God, in unreserved reliance 


248 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

on Mm, in that moment will he seal your soul's 
entire renovation, then will his Spirit testify to 
yours that Christ is indeed your Redeemer from 
all sin, your All in all.] 

VIII. Social prayer is closely connected with 
faith in the capital promise of the sanctifying 
Spirit ; and therefore I earnestly recommend that 
means of grace, where it can be had, as being emi- 
nently conducive to the attaining of Christian per- 
fection. When many believing hearts are lifted 
up, and wrestle with Grod in prayer together, you 
may compare them to many diligent hands which 
work a large machine. At such times, particularly, 
the fountains of the great deep are broken up, the 
windows of heaven are opened, and "rivers of 
living water flow" into the hearts of obedient 
believers. 

" In Christ when brethren join, 

And follow after peace, 
The fellowship divine 

He promises to bless, 
His chiefest graces to bestow 
Where two or three are met below. 

" Where unity takes place, 

The joys of heaven we prove ; 
This is the gospel grace, 

The unction from above, 
The Spirit on all believers shed, 
Descending swift from Christ their Head." 

Accordingly we read, that when Grod powerfully 


CHRISTIAN PEKPECTION. 249 

opened the kingdom of the Holy Ghost on the day 
of Pentecost, the disciples " were all with one ac- 
cord in one place." And when he confirmed that 
kingdom, they " were lifting up their voices to God 
with one accord." See Acts ii. 1, and iv. 24. 
Thus, also, the believers at Samaria were filled 
with the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, while Peter 
and John prayed with them, and laid their hands 
upon them. 

IX. But perhaps thou art alone. As a solitary 
bird which sitteth on the house-top, thou lookest 
for a companion who may go with thee through 
the deepest travail of the regeneration. But, alas ! 
thou lookest in vain; .all the professors about 
thee seem satisfied with their former experiences, 
and with self-imputed or self-conceited perfection. 
When thou givest them a hint of thy want of 
power from on high, and of thy hunger and thirst 
after a fulness of righteousness, they do not sym- 
pathize with thee. And, indeed, how can they ? 
They are full already, they reign without thee, 
they have need of nothing. They do not sensibly 
want that " God would grant them, according to 
the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with 
might in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in 
their hearts by faith, that they, being rooted and 
grounded in love, may comprehend with all saints 
[perfected in love] what is the breadth and length 


250 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

and depth and height, and to know the love of 
Christ which passeth knowledge, that they might 
be filled with all the fulness of Grod." Eph. iii. 
16, etc. They look upon thee as a whimsical 
person, full of singular notions, and they rather 
damp than enliven thy hopes. Thy circumstances 
are sad ; but do not give place to despair, no, not 
for a moment. In the name of Christ, who could 
not get even Peter, James, and John to watch 
with him one hour ; and who was obliged to go 
through his agony alone; in his name, I say, 
" Cast not away thy confidence, which has great 
recompense of reward." Under all thy discour- 
agements, remember that, after all, Divine grace is 
not confined to numbers, any more than to a few. 
When all outward helps fail thee, make the more 
of Christ, on whom sufficient help is laid for thee 
Christ, who says : " I will go with thee through 
fire and water ;" the former shall not burn thee, 
nor the latter drown thee. Jacob was alone when 
he wrestled with the angel, yet he prevailed ; and 
if the servant is not above his master, wonder not 
that it should be said of thee, as of thy Lord, when 
he went through his greatest temptations, " Of the 
people, there was none with him." 

Should thy conflicts be " with confused noise, 
with burning and fuel of fire ;" should thy " Jeru- 
salem be rebuilt in troublesome times ;" should the 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 251 

Lord " shake, not the earth only, but also heaven ; 
should deep call unto deep at the noise of his 
water-spouts ; should all his waves and billows go 
over thee ;" should thy patience be tried to the 
uttermost ; remember how, in years past, thou hast 
tried the patience of God, nor be discouraged : an 
extremity and a storm are often God's opportunity. 
A blast of temptation, and a shaking of all. thy 
foundations, may introduce the fulness of God to 
thy soul, and answer the end of the rushing wind, 
and of the shaking, which formerly accompanied 
the first great manifestations of the Spirit. The 
Jews still expect the coming of the Messiah in the 
fleshy and they particularly expect it in a storm. 
When lightnings flash, when thunders roar, when 
a strong wind shakes their houses, and the tem- 
pestuous sky seems to rush down in thunder 
showers, then some of them particularly open their 
doors and windows to entertain their wished-for 
Deliverer. Do spiritually what they do carnally. 
Constantly wait for full " power from on high ;" 
but especially when a storm of affliction, tempta- 
tion, or distress overtakes thee; or when thy 
convictions and desires raise thee above thyself, 
as the waters of the flood raised Noah's ark 
above the earth ; then be particularly careful to 
throw the door of FAITH and the window of HOPE 
as wide open as thou canst; and, spreading the 


252 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

arms of thy imperfect LOVE, say, with all the ardor 
and resignation which thou art master of: 

" My heart-strings groan with deep complaint, 

My flesh lies panting, Lord, for thee ; 
And every limb and every joint 
Stretches for perfect purity." 

But if the Lord be pleased to come softly to thy 
help ; if he make an end of thy corruption by 
helping thee gently to sink to unknown depths of 
meekness ; if he drown the indwelling man of sin, 
by baptizing, by plunging him into an abyss of 
humility ; do not find fault with the simplicity of 
his. method, the plainness of his appearing, and the 
commonness of his prescription. Nature, like 
Naaman, is full of prejudices. She expects that 
Christ will come to make her clean with as much 
ado, pomp, and bustle, as the Syrian general looked 
for "when he was wroth and said, Behold, I 
thought he will surely come out to me and 
stand and call on his God and strike his hand 
over the place and recover the leper." Christ 
frequently goes a much plainer way to work; and 
by this means he disconcerts all our preconceived 
notions and schemes of deliverance. " Learn of me 
to be meek and lowly in heart, and thou shalt find 
rest to thy soul," the sweet rest of Christian per- 
fection, of perfect humility, resignation, and meek- 
ness. Lie. at my feet, as she did who loved much, 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 253 

and was meekly taken up with " the good part, 
and the one thing needful." But thou frettest; 
thou despisest this robe of perfection; it is too 
plain for thee ; thou slightest " the ornament of a 
meek and quiet spirit, which, in the sight of God, 
is of great price ;" nothing will serve thy turn but 
a tawdry coat of many colors, which may please 
thy proud self-will, and draw the attention of 
others by its glorious and flaming appearance; 
and it must be brought to thee with lightnings, 
thunderings, and voices. If this be thy disposi- 
tion, wonder not at the Divine wisdom which 
thinks fit to disappoint thy lofty prejudices; and 
let me address thee asNaaman's servants addressed 
him : " My brother, if the prophet had bid thee do 
some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it ? 
How much rather then, when he says to thee, lam 
the meeJc and lowly Lamb of G-od ; wash in the 
stream of my Hood -plunge in the Jordan of my 
humility, and be clean!" Instead, therefore, of 
going away from a plain Jesus in a rage, welcome 
him in his lowest appearance, and be persuaded 
that he can as easily make an end of thy sin, by 
gently coming in " a still, small voice," as by rush- 
ing in upon thee in " a storm, a fire, or an earth- 
quake." The Jews rejected their Saviour, not so 
much because they did not earnestly desire his 
coming, as because he did not come in the manner 


254 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

in which they expected him. It is probable that 
some of this Judaism cleaves to thee. If thou 
wilt absolutely come to Mount Zion in a triumphal 
chariot, or make thine entrance into the New Jeru- 
salem upon a prancing horse, thou art likely never 
to come there. Leave, then, all thy lordly mis- 
conceptions behind ; and humbly follow thy King, 
who makes his entry into the typical Jerusalem, 
" meek and lowly, riding upon an ass, yea, upon a 
colt, the foal of an ass." I say it again, therefore, 
while thy faith and hope strongly insist on the 
blessing, let thy resignation and patience leave to 
God's infinite goodness and wisdom the peculiar 
manner of bestowing it. When he says, "Surely 
I come quickly to make my abode with thee," let 
thy faith close in with his word; ardently and 
yet meekly embrace his promise. This will in- 
stantly beget power ; and with that power thou 
mayest instantly bring forth prayer, and possibly 
the prayer which opens heaven, which humbly 
wrestles with God, inherits the blessing, and turns 
the well-known petition, "Amen ! Even so, come 
Lord Jesus," into the well-known praises, He is 
come, he is come, praise the Lord, my soul, etc. 
Thus repent, believe and obey; and "he that 
coineth will come" with a fulness of pure, meek, 
humble love ; " he will not tarry, or if he tarry, it 
will be to give thy faith and desires more time to 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 255 

open, that thou mayest, at his appearing, be able 
to take in more of his perfecting grace and sancti- 
fying power : beside, thy expectation of his coming 
is of a purifying nature, and gradually sanctifies 
thee. " He that has this hope in him," by this 
very hope " purifies himself even as God is pure ;" 
for " we are saved [into perfect love] by hope as 
well as by faith." The stalk, as well as the root, 
bears " the full corn in the ear." 

Up, then, thou sincere expectant of Clod's king- 
dom ! Let thy humble, ardent free-will meet pre- 
venient, sanctifying free grace in its weakest and 
darkest appearance, as the father of the faithful 
met the Lord, " when he appeared to him on the 
plain of Mamre" as a mere mortal. "Abraham 
lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo ! three men 
stood by him." So does free grace (if I may ven- 
ture upon the allusion) invite itself to thy tent: 
nay, it is now with thee in its creating, redeeming, 
and sanctifying influences. "And when he saw 
them, he ran to meet them from the tent-door, and 
bowed himself toward the ground." Go and do 
likewise : if thou seest any beauty in the humbling 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sanctifying 
love of God, and in the comfortable fellowship of 
the Holy Ghost, let thy free-will run to meet them, 
and bow itself toward the ground. for a speedy 
going out of thy tent, thy sinful self! for a 


256 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

race of desire in the way of faith ! for inces- 
sant prostrations ! for a meek and deep bowing 
of thyself before thy Divine Deliverer! "And 
Abraham said, My Lord, if now I have found favor 
in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy 
servant /" for the humble pressing of a loving 
faith! for the faith which stopped the sun, 
when God avenged his people in the days of 
Joshua ! for the importunate faith of the two 
disciples who detained Christ, when "he made as 
though he would have gone farther ! They con- 
strained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward 
evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in 
to tarry with them." He soon, indeed, vanished 
out of their bodily sight, because they were not 
called always to enjoy his bodily presence. Far 
from promising them that blessing, he had said : 
" It is expedient for you that I go away ; for if I 
go not away, the Comforter will not come unto 
you ; but if I depart, I will send him unto you, 
that he may abide with you for ever. He dwell- 
eth with you, and shall be in you." This promise 
is " YEA and AMEN in Christ ;" only plead it accord- 
ing to the preceding directions, and as sure as the 
Lord is the true and faithful Witness, so sure will 
the God of hope and love soon fill you with all 
joy and peace, that ye may abound in pure love, 
as well as in confirmed hope, " through the power 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 257 

of the Holy Grhost." Then shall you have an in- 
disputable right to join the believers who sing : 

" MANY are we now and ONE, 
We who Jesus have put on : 
There is neither bond nor free, 
Male nor female, Lord, in thee. 
Love, like death, hath all destroyed, 
Rendered all distinction void ; 
Names, and sects, and parties fall : 
Thou, Christ, art all in all." 

In the meantime you may sing : 

" for a heart to praise my God, 

A heart from sin set free ! 
A heart that always feels thy blood 
So freely spilt for me ! 

" A heart resigned, submissive, meek, 

My great Redeemer's throne, 
Where only Christ is heard to speak, 
Where Jesus reigns alone. 

" for a lowly, contrite heart, 
Believing, true, and clean ! 
Which neither life nor death can part 
From Him that dwells within : 

" A heart in every thought renewed, 

And full of love divine ; 
Perfect, and right, and pure, and good, 
A copy, Lord, of thine." 

Here is, undoubtedly, an evangelical prayer for 
the LOVE which restores the soul to a state of sin- 
less rest and evangelical perfection. Nor can ye 

wait for an answer to the prayer contained in the 
9 


258 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

preceding hymn in a more scriptural manner than 
by pleading " the promise of the Father" in such 
words as these : 

"Love divine, all loves excelling, 

Joy of heaven, to earth come down ; 
Fix in us thy humble dwelling, 

All thy faithful mercies crown?, 
Jesus, thou art all compassion, 

Pure, unbounded love thou art ; 
Visit us with thy salvation ; 

Enter every trembling heart. 

"Breathe, breathe thy loving Spirit 

Into every troubled breast ! 
Let us all in thee inherit, 

Let us find that second rest. 
Take away our bent to sinning, 

Alpha and Omega be, 
End of faith, as its beginning, 

Set our hearts at liberty. . 

"Come, almighty to deliver, 

Let us all thy life receive, 
Suddenly return, and never, 

Never more thy temples leave : 
Thee we would be always blessing ; 

Serve thee as thy hosts above ; 
Pray, and praise thee, without ceasing, 

Glory in thy perfect love. 

"Finish, then, thy new creation, 

Pure and spotless let. us be ; 
Let us see thy great salvation 

Perfectly restored in thee : 
Changed from glory into glory, 

Till in heaven we take our place, 
Till we cast our crowns before thee, 

Lost in wonder, love, and praise !" 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 259 

"Lift up your hands which, hang down: our 
Aaron, our heavenly High-Priest, is near to hold 
them up. The spiritual Amalekites will not 
always prevail : our Samuel, our heavenly Prophet, 
is ready " to cut them and their king in pieces 
before the Lord. The promise is unto you." You 
are surely called to attain the perfection of your 
dispensation, although you still seem afar off. 
Christ, in whom that perfection centres Christ, 
from whom it flows, is very near, even at the door : 
" Behold," says he, [and this he spake to Laodi- 
cean loiterers,] " I stand at the door and knock. 
If any man hear my voice and openj I will come 
in and sup with him," upon the fruits of my grace, 
in their Christian perfection; and he shall sup 
with me upon the fruits of my glory, in their 
angelical and heavenly maturity. 

Hear this encouraging gospel : "Ask, and you 
shall have ; seek, and you shall find ; knock, and 
it shall be opened unto you. For every one that 
asketh, receiveth ; and he that seeketh, findeth ; 
and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. If 
any of you [believers] lack wisdom indwelling 
wisdom, [Christ, the wisdom and the power of God, 
dwelling in his heart by faith,] let him ask of God, 
who giveth to all men, and upbraideth not, and it 
shall be given him. But let him. ask [as a be- 
liever] in faith, nothing wavering; for he that 


260 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the 
wind and tossed j for let not that man think that 
lie shall receive" the thing which he thus asketh. 
" But whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, 
believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have 
them. For all things [commanded and promised] 
are possible to him that believeth." He who has 
commanded us to be perfect "in love, as our 
Heavenly Father is perfect," and he who has 
promised " speedily to avenge his elect, who cry 
to him night and day," he will speedily avenge 
you of your grand adversary, indwelling sin. He 
will say to you : "According to thy faith be it 
done unto thee ; for he is able to do exceeding 
abundantly above all that we can ask or think; 
and of his fulness we may all receive grace for 
grace" we may all witness the gracious fulfilment 
of all the promises, which he has graciously made, 
that by "them, we might be partakers of the Divine 
nature," so far as it can be communicated to mor- 
tals in this world. You see that, with men, what 
you look for is impossible ; but you show your- 
selves believers ; take Grod into the account, and 
you will soon experience that " with Grod all things 
are possible." Nor forget the omnipotent Advo- 
cate whom you have with him. Behold ! he lifts 
his once-pierced hands, and says, " Father, sanctify 
them through [thy loving] truth, that they may 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 261 

Tbe perfected in love ;" and showing to you the 
fountain of atoning blood and purifying water, 
whence flow the streams which cleanse and glad- 
den the hearts of believers, he says, "Hitherto you 
have asked nothing in my name whatsoever you 
shall ask the Father in my name, he ivill give it you. 
Ask, then, that your joy may be full." If I try 
your faith by a little delay ; if I hide my face for 
a moment, it is only to gather you with everlast- 
ing kindness. "A woman, when she is in travail, 
hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but as 
soon as she is delivered of the child, she reinem- 
bereth no more the anguish for joy. Now ye have 
sorrow, but I will see you again, and your hearts 
shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from 
you." In that day ye shall ask me no question, 
for you shall not have my bodily presence. But 
my urim and thummim will be with you ; and the 
"Spirit of truth will himself lead you into all. [Chris- 
tian] truth? 

" for a firm and lasting faith, 
To credit all the Almighty saith, 
To embrace the promise of his Son, 
And feel the Comforter our own I" 

In the meantime be not afraid to give glory to 
God by " believing in hope against hope." Stag- 
ger not "at the promise [of the Father and the 
Son] through unbelief ;" but trust the power and 


262 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

faithfulness of your Creator and Redeemer, till 
your Sanctifier has fixed his abode in your heart. 
"Wait at mercy's door, as the lame beggar did at 
the beautiful gate of the temple. " Peter fasten- 
ing his eyes upon him, with John, said, Look to 
us; and he gave heed to them, expecting to receive 
something of them." Do so too : give heed to the 
Father in the Son, who says, " Look unto me and 
be ye saved." Expect to receive " the one thing 
now needful" for you a fulness of the sanctifying 
Spirit ; and though your patience may be tried, it 
shall not be disappointed. The faith and power 
which, at Peter's word, gave the poor cripple a 
perfect soundness in the presence of all the won- 
dering Jews, will give you, at Christ's word, a 
perfect soundness of heart in the presence of all 
your adversaries. 

" Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, 

And looks to that alone, 
Laughs at impossibilities, 
And cries, ' It shall be done !' 

"Faith asks impossibilities; 

Impossibilities are given. : 
And I e'en I, from sin shall cease, 
Shall live on earth the life of heaven." 

Faith always " works by love" by love of de- 
sire at least ; making us ardently pray for what 
we believe to be eminently desirable. And if 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 263 

Christian perfection appears so to you, you might, 
perhaps, express your earnest desire of it in some 
such words as these : How long, Lord, shall my 
soul, thy spiritual temple, be a den of thieves, or 
a house of merchandise? How long shall vain 
thoughts profane it, as the buyers and sellers pro- 
faned thy temple made with human hands ? How 
long shall evil tempers lodge within me ? How 
long shall unbelief, formality, hypocrisy, envy, 
hankering after sensual pleasure, indifference to 
spiritual delights, and backwardness to painful or 
ignominious duty, harbor there ? How long shall 
these sheep and doves, yea, these goats and ser- 
pents, defile my breast, which should be pure as 
the holy of holies ? How long shall they hinder 
me from being one of the worshippers whom thou 
seekest one of those who worship thee in spirit 
and in truth ? help me to take away these cages 
of unclean birds. " Suddenly come to thy temple." 
Turn out all that offends the eyes of thy purity ; 
and destroy all that keeps me out of " the rest 
which remains for thy Christian people :" so shall 
I keep a spiritual Sabbath a Christian jubilee to 
the God of my life. So shall I witness my share 
in the oil of joy with which thou anointest perfect 
Christians abqve their fellow-believers. I stand in 
need of that oil, Lord ; my lamp burns dim ; some- 
times it seems to be even gone out, as that of the 


264 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

foolish virgins; it is more like "a smoking flax" 
than " a burning and shining light." ! quench 
it not : raise it to a flame. Thou knowest that I 
do believe in thee. The trembling hand of my 
faith holds thee ; and though I have ten thousand 
times grieved thy pardoning love, thine everlasting 
arm is still under me, to redeem my life from de- 
struction ; while thy right hand is over me, to 
crown me with mercies and loving-kindness. But, 
alas ! I am neither sufficiently thankful for thy 
present mercies, nor sufficiently athirst for thy 
future favors. Hence I feel an aching void in my 
soul, being conscious that I have not attained 
the heights of grace described in thy word, and 
enjoyed by thy holiest servants. Their deep 
experiences, the diligence and ardor with which 
they did thy will, the patience and fortitude 
with which they endured the cross, reproach 
me, and convince me of my manifold wants. I 
want "power from on high;" I want the pene- 
trating, lasting " unction of the Holy One." I 
want to have my vessel (my capacious heart) 
full of oil, which makes the countenance of wise 
virgins cheerful. I want a lamp of heavenly 
illumination, and a fire of Divine love, burning 
day and night in my breast, as the typical 
lamps did in the temple, and the sacred fire 
on the altar; I want a full application of the 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 265 

blood which cleanses from all sin, and a strong 
faith in thy sanctifying word a faith by which 
thou inayest dwell in my heart, as the unwav- 
ering hope of glory, and the fixed object of my 
love. I want the internal oracle thy still, 
small voice, together with urim and thummim* 
" the new name which none knoweth but he that 
receiveth it." In a word, Lord, I want a plenti- 
tude of thy Spirit, the full promise of the Father, 
and the rivers which flow from the inmost souls 
of the believers, who have gone on to the per- 
fection of their dispensation. I do believe that 
thou canst and wilt thus "baptize me with the 
Holy Grhost and with fire:" help my unbelief; 
confirm and increase my faith, with regard to this 
important baptism. Lord, I have need to be thus 
baptized of thee, and I am straitened till this 
baptism is accomplished. By thy baptisms of 
tears in the manger of water in Jordan of 
sweat in Greths'emane of blood, and fire, and 
vapor of smoke, and flaming wrath on Calvary 
baptize, baptize my soul, and make as full an 
end of the original sin which I have from Adam, 
as thy last baptism made of the likeness of sin- 
ful flesh, which thou hadst from a daughter of 
Eve. Some of thy people look at death for full 

* Two Hebrew "words, which mean lights and perfections. 


266 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

salvation from sin ; but, at thy command, Lord, I 
look unto thee. " Say to my soul, I am thy sal- 
vation f and let me feel with my heart, as well as 
see with my understanding, that thou canst save 
from sin, to the uttermost, all that come to God 
through thee. I am tired of forms, professions, and 
orthodox notions ; so far as they are not pipes or 
channels to convey life, light, and love to my dead, 
dark, and stony heart. Neither the plain letter 
of thy gospel, nor the sweet foretastes and tran- 
sient illuminations of thy Spirit, can satisfy the 
large desires of my faith. Give me thine abiding 
Spirit, that he may continually shed abroad thy 
love in my soul. Come, Lord, with that blessed 
Spirit ; come thou, and thy Father, in that holy 
Comforter come to make your abode with me ; 
or I shall go meekly mourning to my grave. 
Blessed mourning! Lord, increase it. I had 
rather wait in tears for thy fulness than wantonly 
waste the fragments of thy spiritual bounties, or 
feed with Laodicean contentment upon the tainted 
manna of my former experiences. Righteous 
Father, "I hunger and thirst after thy righteous- 
ness ;" send thy Holy Spirit of promise to fill me 
therewith, to sanctify me throughout, and to " seal 
me centrally to. the day of eternal redemption" and 
finished salvation. " Not for works of righteous- 
ness which I have done, but of thy mercy," for 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 267 

Christ's sake, " save thou me "by the complete wash- 
ing of regeneration, and the full renewing of the 
Holy Christ." And in order to this, pour out of 
thy Spirit ; shed it abundantly on me till the foun- 
tain, of living water abundantly springs up in my 
soul, and I can say, in the full sense of the words, 
that thou "livest in me, that my life is hid with 
thee in Grod, and that my spirit is returned to him 
that gave it ; to thee, the first and the last my 
author and my end my Grod and my all !" 


268 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

f -- 

AN* ADDRESS TO PERFECT CHRISTIANS. 

YE have not sung the preceding hymns in vain, 
ye men of God, who have mixed faith with 
your evangelical requests. The God who says, 
"Open thy mouth wideband I will fill it;" the 
gracious God who declares, " Blessed are they that 
hunger after righteousness, for they shall be filled ;" 
that faithful, covenant-keeping God has now filled 
you with all "righteousness, peace, and joy in 
believing." The brightness of Christ's appearing 
has destroyed the indwelling "man of sin." He 
who had slain the lion and the bear (he who had 
already done so great things for you) has now 
crowned all his blessings by slaying the Goliath 
within. Aspiring, unbelieving self is fallen before 
the victorious Son of David. " The quick and 
powerful word of God, which is sharper than any 
two-edged sword, has pierced even to the dividing 
asunder of soul and spirit." The carnal mind is 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 269 

cut off; the circumcision of the heart, through the 
Spirit, has fully taken place in your breasts ; and 
now " that mind is in you which was also in Christ 
Jesus ; ye are spiritually-minded ;" loving God 
with all your heart, and your neighbor as your- 
selves, " ye are full of goodness, ye keep the com- 
mandments," ye observe the law of liberty., ye fulfil 
the law of Christ. Of him ye have " learned to be 
meek and lowly in heart." Ye have fully " taken 
his yoke upon you :" in so doing ye have found a 
sweet, abiding rest unto your souls; and from 
blessed experience ye can say : " Christ's yoke is 
easy, and his burden is light. His ways are ways 
of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace. All 
the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, unto 
such as keep his covenant and his testimonies." 
The beatitudes are sensibly yours ; and the charity 
described by St. Paul has the same place in your 
breasts which the tables of the law had in the ark 
of the covenant. Ye are the living temples of the 
Trinity : the Father is your life ; the Son, your 
light ; the Spirit, your love ; ye are truly baptized 
into the mystery of God, ye continue to " drink 
into one spirit," and thus ye enjoy the grace of 
both sacraments. There is an end of your Lo 
here ! and Lo there ! The kingdom of God is now 
established within you. Christ's " righteousness, 


270 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

peace, and joy" are rooted in your breasts "by the 
Holy Ghost given unto you," as an abiding guide 
and indwelling comforter. Your introverted eye 
of faith looks at God, who gently "guides you 
with his eye" into all the truth necessary to make 
you " do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly 
with your God." Simplicity of intention keeps 
darkness out of your mind, and purity of affection 
keeps wrong fires out of your breast : by the for- 
mer, ye are without guile; by the latter, ye are 
without envy. Your passive will instantly melts 
into the will of God ; and on all occasions you 
meekly say, " Not my will, Father, but thine 
be done !" Thus ye are always ready to suffer 
what ye are called to suffer, your active will 
evermore says : " Speak, Lord j thy servant hear- 
eth ; what wouldst thou have me to do ? It is my 
meat and drink to do the will of my Heavenly 
Father !" Thus are ye always ready to do what- 
soever ye are convinced that God calls you to do ; 
and " whatsoever ye do, whether ye eat, or drink, 
or do any thing else, ye do all to the glory of 
God, and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ ; 
rejoicing evermore; praying without ceasing; in 
every thing giving thanks ;" solemnly looking for 
and hasting unto the hour of your dissolution, and 
the " day of God, wherein the heavens, being on 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 271 

fire, shall be dissolved," and your soul, being 
clothed with a celestial body, shall be able to do 
celestial sendees to the Grod of your life. 

In this blessed state of Christian perfection, the 
holy "anointing, which ye have received of him, 
abideth in you, and ye need not that any man 
teach you, unless it be as the same anointing 
teacheth." Agreeably, therefore, to that anoint- 
ing, which teaches by a variety of means, which 
formerly taught a prophet by an ass, and daily 
instructs God's children by the ant, T shall ven- 
ture to set before you some important directions 
which the Holy Grhost has already suggested to 
your pure minds ; " for I would not be negligent 
to put you in remembrance of these things, though 
ye know them, and be established in the present 
truth. Yea, I think it meet to stir you up, by 
putting you in remembrance," and giving you some 
hints, which it is safe for you frequently to medi- 
tate upon. 

I. Adam, ye know, lost his human perfection in 
Paradise; Satan lost his angelic perfection in 
heaven ; the .devil thrust sore at Christ in the wil- 
derness, to throw him down from his mediatorial 
perfection; and St. Paul, in the same. Epistles 
where he professes not only Christian, but apos- 
tolic perfection also, (Phil. iii. 15 ; 1 Cor. ii. 6 ; 2 
Cor. xii. 11,) informs us that he continued to " run 


272 * CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

for the crown of- heavenly perfection" like a man 
who might not only lose his crown of Christian 
perfection, but become a reprobate, and be cast 
away. 1 Cor. ix. 25, 27. And, therefore, "so 
run ye also, that no man take your crown" of 
Christian perfection in. this world, and that ye may 
obtain your crown of angelic perfection in the 
world to come. Still keep your body under. Still 
guard your senses. Still watch your own heart, 
and, "steadfast in the faith, still resist the devil, 
that he may flee from you;" remembering that if 
Christ himself, as Son of man, had conferred with 
flesh and blood, refused to deny himself, and 
avoided taking up his cross, he had lost his per- 
fection, and sealed up our original apostasy. 

"We do not find," says Mr. Wesley, in his 
Plain Account of Christian Perfection, " any general 
state described in Scripture, from which a man 
cannot draw back to sin. If there were any state 
wherein this is impossible, it would be that of 
those who are sanctified, who are fathers in Christ, 
who ' rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and 
in every thing give thanks.' But it is not impos- 
sible for these to draw back. They who are sanc- 
tified may yet fall and perish. Heb. x. 29. Even 
c fathers in Christ' need that warning, ' Love not 
the world.' 1 John ii. 15. They who ' rejoice, 
pray, and give thanks without ceasing,' may never- 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 273 

theless ' quench the Spirit.' 1 Thess. v. 16, etc. 
Nay, even they who are ' sealed unto the day of 
redemption' may yet ' grieve the Holy Spirit of 
God. 1 Eph. v. 30."* 

The doctrine of the absolute perseverance of the 
saints is the first card which the devil played 
against man : " Ye shall not surely die if ye break 
the law of your perfection." This fatal card won 
the game. Mankind and Paradise were lost. The 
artful serpent had too well succeeded at his first 
game to forget that lucky card at his second. See 
him "transforming himself into an angel of light 
on the pinnacle of the temple." There he plays 
over again his old game against the Son of Glod. 
Out of the Bible he pulls the very card which won 
our first parents, and swept the stake Paradise 
yea, swept it with the besom of destruction : " Cast 
thyself down," says he, "for it is written, [that 


* We do not hereby deny that some believers have a testimony 
in their own breasts that they shall not finally fall from God. 
"They may have it," says Mr. Wesley, in the same tract, "and this 
persuasion that 'neither life nor death shall separate them from 
God,' far from being hurtful, may, in some circumstances, be ex- 
tremely useful." But wherever this testimony is Divine, it is attended 
with that grace which inseparably connects holiness and good works, 
the means, with perseverance and eternal salvation, the end; and, in. 
this respect, our doctrine widely differs from that of the Calvinists, 
who break the necessary connection between holiness and infallible 
salvation, by making room for the foulest falls for adultery, mur- 
der, and incest. 
9* 


274 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

all things shall work together for thy good, thy 
.very falls not excepted,] He shall give his angels 
charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall 
lear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot 
against a stone." The tempter (thanks he to 
Christ !) lost the game at that time, hut he did not 
lose his card ; and it is prohable that he will play 
it round against you all, only with some variation. 
Let me mention one among a thousand : He prom- 
ised our Lord that God's " angels should hear him 
up in their hands, if he threw himself down ;" and 
it is not unlikely that he will promise you greater 
things still. Nor should I wonder if he was hold 
enough to hint, that when you cast yourselves 
down, " God himself shall bear you up in his 
HANDS, yea, in his ARMS of everlasting love." 
ye men of God, learn wisdom by the fall of Adam. 
ye anointed sons of the Most High, learn watch- 
fulness by the conduct of Christ. If he was afraid 
to " tempt the Lord his God," will ye dare to do 
it? If he rejected, as poison, the hook of the 
absolute perseverance of the saints, though it was 
baited with Scripture, will ye swallow it down as 
if it were " honey out of the rock of ages ?" No ; 
" through faith in Christ, the Scriptures have made 
you wise unto salvation ;" you will not only flee 
with all speed from evil, but from the very appear- 
ance of evil ; and when you stand on the brink of 


CHRISTIAN PEEFECTION. 275 

a temptation, far from " entering into it," under any 
pretence whatever, ye will leap back into the 
bosom of Him who says : " Watch and pray, lest 
ye enter into temptation ; for though the spirit is 
willing, the flesh is weak." I grant that "the 
weakness of the flesh" is not sin; but yet the 
" deceitfulness of sin" creeps in at this door ; and 
in this way not a few of God's children, " after 
they had escaped the pollutions of the world, 
through the" sanctifying knowledge of Christ, 
under plausible pretences, "have been entangled 
again therein and overcome." Let their falls 
make you cautious. Ye have " put on the whole 
armor of Grod ;" keep it on, and use it " with 
all prayer," that ye may to the last " stand 
complete in Christ, and be more than conquerors 
through him that has loved you." 

II. Remember that " every one who is perfect 
shall be as his Master." Now if your Master was 
tempted and assaulted to the last; if to the last he 
watched and prayed, using all the means of grace 
himself, and enforcing the use of them upon others ; 
if to the last he fought against the world, the flesh, 
and the devil, and did not " put off the harness" 
till he had put off the body ; think not yourselves 
above him, but "go and do likewise." If he did 
not regain Paradise, without going through the 
most complete renunciation of all the good things 


276 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

of this world, and without meekly submitting to 
the severe stroke of his last enemy, death, be con- 
tent to be "perfect as -he was; 1 ' nor fancy that 
your flesh and blood can inherit the celestial king- 
dom of Grod, when the flesh and blood which Em- 
manuel himself assumed from a pure virgin, could 
not inherit it without passing under the cherub's 
flaming sword : I mean, without going through the 
gates of death. 

III. Ye are not complete in wisdom. Perfect 
love does not imply perfect knowledge; but. per- 
fect humility, and perfect readiness to receive in- 
struction. Remember, therefore, that if ever ye 
show that ye are above being instructed, even by 
a fisherman who teaches according to the Divine 
anointing, ye will show that ye are fallen from a 
perfection of humility into a perfection of pride. 

IV. Do not confound angelical with Christian 
perfection. Uninterrupted transports of praise, 
and ceaseless raptures of joy, do not belong to 
Christian, but to angelical perfection. Our feeble 
frame can bear but a few drops of that glori- 
ous cup. In general, that new ivine is too strong 
for our old bottles; that power is too excellent for 
our earthen, cracked vessels ; but, weak as they 
are, they can bear a fulness of meekness, 'of resig- 
nation, of humility, and of that love which is will- 
ing to " obey unto death." If Grod indulge you 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 277 

with ecstasies and extraordinary revelations, be 
thankful for them; but be "not exalted above 
measure by them ;" take care lest enthusiastic de- 
lusions mix themselves with them ; and remember 
that your Christian perfection does not so much 
consist in " building a tabernacle" upon Mount 
Tabor, to rest and enjoy rare sights there, as in 
resolutely taking up the cross, and following Christ 
to the palace of a proud Caiaphas, to the judgment- 
hall of an unjust Pilate, and to the top of an igno- 
minious Calvary. Ye never read in your Bibles, 
" Let that glory be upon you which was also upon 
St. Stephen, when he looked up steadfastly into 
heaven, and said, Behold 1 1 see the heavens opened, 
and the Son of man standing on the right hand of 
God!' But ye have frequently read there, " Let 
this mind be in you which was also in Christ 
Jesus, who made himself of no reputation, took 
upon him the form of a servant, and being found 
in fashion as a man, humbled himself, and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." 
See him on that ignominious gibbet! He 
hangs abandoned by his friends surrounded by 
his foes condemned by the rich insulted by the 
poor ! He hangs " a worm and no man a very 
scorn of men, and the outcast of the people ! All 
that see him laugh him to scorn! They shoot 
out their lips and shake their heads, saying, He 


278 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

trusted in God, that he would deliver him; let him de- 
liver him, if he will have him !" There is none to help 
him : one of his apostles denies, another sells him ; 
and the rest run away. Many oxen are come about . 
him : fat bulls of Bashan close him on every side ; 
they gape upon him with their mouths as it were a 
ramping lion ; he is poured out like water ; his 
heart in the midst of his body is like melting wax ; 
his strength is dried up like a potsherd ; his tongue 
cleaveth to his gums ; he is going into the dust of 
death ; many dogs are come about him ; and' the 
counsel of the wicked layeth siege against him; 
his hands and feet are pierced ; you may tell all 
his bones ; they stand staring and looking upon 
him; they part his garments among them, and 
cast lots for the only remains of his property, his 
plain, seamless vesture. Both suns, the visible 
and the invisible, seem eclipsed. No cheering 
beam of created light gilds his gloomy prospect. 
No smile of his Heavenly Father supports his 
agonizing soul ! No cordial, unless it be vinegar 
and gall, revives his sinking spirits ! He has no- 
thing left except his God. But his God is enough 
for him. In. his God he has all things. And 
though his soul is seized with sorrow, even unto 
death, yet it hangs more firmly upon his God by 
a naked faith, than his lacerated body does on the 
cross by the clenched nails. The perfection of his 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 279 

love shines in all its Christian glory. He not only 
forgives Ms insulting foes and bloody persecutors, 
but, in the highest point of his passion, he forgets 
his own wants, and thirsts after their eternal hap- 
piness. Together with his blood, he pours out his 
soul for them ; and, excusing them all, he says : 
" Father, forgive them, for they know not what 
they do." ye adult sons of God, in this glass 
behold all with open face the glory of your Re- 
deemer's forgiving, praying love; and, as ye 
" behold it, be changed into the same image from 
glory to glory, by the loving Spirit of the Lord." 

V. This lesson is deep ; but he may teach you 
one deeper still. By a strong sympathy with him. 
in all his sufferings, he may call you to "know 
him every way crucified." Stern justice thunders 
from heaven, "Awake, sword, against the man 
who is my fellow !" The sword awakes ; the 
sword goes through his soul ; the flaming sword is 
quenched in his blood. But is one sinew of his 
perfect faith cut, one fibre of his perfect resigna- 
tion injured by the astonishing blow? No; his 
God slays him, and yet he trusts in his God. By 
the noblest of all ventures, in the most dreadful 
of all storms, he meekly bows his head, and shel- 
ters his departing soul in the bosom of his God. 
"My God, my God!" says he, "though all my 
comforts have forsaken me, and all thy storms 


280 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

and waves go over me, yet 'into thy hands I 
commend my spirit. For thou wilt not leave 
niy soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thy 
Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show 
me the path of life ; in thy presence is fulness of . 
joy, and at thy right hand [where I shall soon sit] 
there are pleasures for evermore.' " What a pat- 
tern of perfect confidence ! ye perfect Chris- 
tians, be ambitious to ascend to those amazing 
heights of Christ's perfection ; for hereunto are ye 
called ; because Christ also suffered for us ; leav- 
ing us an example, that we should follow his steps ; 
who knew no sin ; who, when he was reviled, re- 
viled not again ; when he suffered, he threatened 
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth 
righteously." If this is your high calling on 
earth, rest not, ye fathers in Christ, till your 
patient hope and perfect confidence in God have 
got their last victory over your last enemy the 
king of terrors. 

" The ground of a thousand mistakes," says Mr. 
Wesley, " is the not considering deeply that love 
is the highest gift of Glod, himible, gentle., patient 
love; that all visions, revelations, manifestations 
whatever, are little things compared to love. It 
were well you should be thoroughly sensible of 
this: the heaven of heavens is love. There is 
nothing higher in religion; there is, in effect, 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 281 

nothing else. If you look for any thing Ibut more 
love, you are looking wide of the mark, you are 
getting out of the royal way. And when you are 
asking others, ' Have you received this or that 
blessing ?' if you mean any thing hut more love, 
you mean wrong ; you are leading them out of the 
way, and putting them upon a false scent. Settle 
it, then, in your heart, that from the moment God 
has saved you from all sin, you are to aim at no- 
thing but more of that love described in the thir- 
teenth of the Corinthians. You can go no higher 
than this till you are carried into Abraham's 
bosom." 

VI. Love is humble. "Be therefore clothed 
with humility," says Mr. Wesley; "let it not 
only fill, but cover you all over. Let modesty 
and se^f-diffidence appear in all your words and 
actions. Let all you speak and do show that you 
are little, and base, and mean, and vile, in your 
own eyes. As one instance of this, be always 
ready to own any fault you have been in. If you 
have, at any time, thought, spoke, or acted wrong, 
be not backward to acknowledge it. Never dream 
that this will hurt the cause of Grod : no, it will 
further it. Be therefore open and frank when you 
are taxed with any thing ; let it appear just as it 
is; and you will thereby not hinder, but adorn 
the gospel." Why should ye be more backward 


282 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

in acknowledging your failings, than in confessing 
that ye do not pretend to infallibility ? St. Paul 
was perfect in the love which casts out fear, and 
therefore he boldly reproved the high-priest ; but 
when he had reproved him more sharply than the 
fifth commandment allows, he directly confessed 
his mistake, and set his seal to the importance of 
the duty in which he had been inadvertently 
wanting. Then Paul said : " I knew not, breth- 
ren, that he was the high-priest ; for it is written, 
Thou shalt not speaJc evil of the ruler of thy people" 
St. John was perfect in the courteous, humble love 
which brings us down at the feet of all. His cour- 
tesy, his humility, and the dazzling glory which 
beamed forth from a Divine messenger (whom he 
apprehended to be more than a creature) betrayed 
him into a fault contrary to that of St. Paul ; but, 
far from concealing it, he openly confessed it, and 
published his confession for the edification of all 
the Churches. " When I had heard and seen," says 
he, " I fell down to worship before the feet of^the 
angel who showed me these things. Then saith 
he unto me, See thou do it not, for I am thy felloiv- 
servantr Christian perfection shines as- much in 
the childlike simplicity with which the perfect 
readily acknowledge their faults, as it does in the 
manly steadiness with which, they "resist unto 
blood, striving against sin." 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 283 

VII. If humble love makes us frankly confess 
our faults, much more does it incline us to own 
ourselves sinners, miserable sinners before that 
God whom we have so frequently offended. I 
need not remind you that your " bodies are dead 
because of sin." You see, you feel it, and there- 
fore, so long as you dwell in a prison of flesh and 
blood, which death, the avenger of sin, is to pull 
down ; so long as your final justification, as par- 
' doned and sanctified sinners, has not taken place ; 
it is meet, right, and your bounden duty to con- 
sider yourselves as sinners, who, as having been 
transgressors of the law of innocence and the law 
of liberty, are guilty of death of eternal death. 
St. Paul did so after he was " come to Mount Zion, 
and to the spirits of just men made perfect." He 
still looked upon himself as the chief of sinners, 
because he had been a daring blasphemer of Christ, 
and a fierce persecutor of his people. " Christ," 
says he, "came to save sinners, of whom I am 
chief." The reason is plain. Matter of fact is, 
and will be, matter of fact to all eternity. Ac- 
cording to the doctrines of grace and justice, and 
before the throne of God's mercy and holiness, a 
sinner pardoned and sanctified must, in the very 
nature of things, be considered as a sinner ; for if 
you consider him as a saint absolutely abstracted 
from the character of a sinner, how can he be a 


284 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

pardoned and sanctified sinner? To all eternity, 
therefore, but much more while death (the wages 
of sin) is at your heels, and while ye are going to 
"appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, to 
receive" your final sentence of absolution or con- 
demnation, it will become you to say with .St. 
Paul : " We have all sinned, and come short of the 
glory of God ; being justified freely [as sinners] 
by his grace, -through the redemption that is in 
Jesus Christ ;" although we are justified JUDICIALLY 
as believers, through faith; as obedient believers., 
through the obedience of faith; and as perfect 
Christians., through Christian perfection. 

YIII. Humble love "becomes all things [but 
sin] to all men," although it delights most in those 
who are most holy. Ye .may and ought to set 
your love of peculiar complacence upon God's 
dearest children upon " those who excel in vir- 
tue ;" because they more strongly reflect the image 
of " the God of love, the Holy One of Israel." 
But, if ye despise the weak, and are above lending 
them a helping hand, ye are fallen from Christian 
perfection, which teaches us to " bear one another's 
burdens," especially the burdens of the weak. 
Imitate, then, the tenderness and wisdom of the 
good Shepherd, who "carries the lambs in his 
bosom, gently leads the sheep which are big with 
young," feeds with milk those who cannot bear 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 285 


strong meat, and says to Ms imperfect disciples : 
" I have many things to say to you, but ye can- 
not bear them now." 

IX. "Where the loving Spirit of the Lord is, 
there is liberty." Keep, therefore, at the utmost 
distance from the shackles of a narrow, prejudiced, 
bigoted spirit. The moment ye confine your love 
to the people who think just as you do, and your 
regard for the preachers who exactly suit your 
taste, you fall from perfection and turn bigots. 
" I entreat you," says Mr. Wesley, in his Plain 
Account, " beware of bigotry. Let not your love, 
or beneficence, be confined to Methodists (so called) 
only ; much less to that very small part of them 
who seem to be renewed in love ; or to those who 
believe yours and their report. make not this 
your Shibboleth." On the contrary, as ye have 
time and ability, " do good to all men." Let your 
benevolence shine upon all ; let your charity send 
its cherishing beams toward all, in proper degrees. 
So shall ye be perfect as your Heavenly Father, 
" who makes his sun to shine upon all ;" although 
he sends the brightest and warmest beams of his 
favor upon " the household of faith," and reserves 
his richest bounties for those who lay out their 
five talents to the best advantage. 

X. Love, pure love, is satisfied with the Supreme 
Good with GOB. " Beware, then, of desiring any 


286 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 


thing but him. Now you desire nothing else. 
Every other desire is driven out : see that none 
enter in again. ' Keep thyself pure ; let your eye 
remain single, and your whole body shall remain 
full of light.' ' stand fast in the liberty where- 
with Christ hath made you free !' Be patterns to 
all, of denying yourselves, and taking up your 
cross daily. Let them see that you make no ac- 
count of any pleasure which does not bring you 
nearer to God, nor regard any pain which does ; 
that you simply aim at pleasing him, whether by 
doing or suffering ; that the constant language of 
your heart with regard to pleasure or pain, honor 
or dishonor, is, 

" 'All's alike to me, so I 

In my Lord may live and die !" ' 

XI. The best soldiers are sent upon the most 
difficult and dangerous expeditions ; and as you 
are the best soldiers of Jesus Christ, ye will proba- 
bly be called to drink deepest of his cup and to 
carry the heaviest burdens. " Expect contradic- 
tion and opposition," says the judicious divine just 
quoted, " together with crosses of various kinds. 
Consider the words of St. Paul, ( To you it is given 
in behalf of Christ,' for his sake, as a fruit of his 
death and intercession for you, ' not only to believe, 
but also to suffer for his sake.' Phil. i. 23. It is 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 287 

given ! God gives you this opposition or reproach : it 
is a fresh token of his love. And will you disown 
the giver ? Or spurn his gift and count it a mis- 
fortune ? Will you not rather say : ' Father, the 
hour is come, that thou shouldst he glorified. 
Now thou givest thy child to suffer something for 
thee. Do with me according to thy will.' Know 
that these things, far from being hindrances to the 
work of God, or to your souls, unless hy your own 
fault, are not only unavoidable in the course of 
Providence, but profitable, yea, necessary, for you. 
Therefore receive them from God (not from chance) 
with willingness and thankfulness. Receive them 
from men with humility, meekness, yieldingness, 
gentleness, sweetness." 

Love can never do nor suffer too much for its 
Divine object. Be then ambitious, like St. Paul, 
to be made perfect in sufferings. I have already 
observed that the apostle, not satisfied to be a 
perfect Christian, would also be a perfect martyr ; 
earnestly desiring to "know the fellowship of 
Christ's sufferings." Follow him, as he followed 
his suffering, crucified Lord. Your feet " are shod 
with the preparation of the gospel of peace ;" run 
after them both, in the race of obedience, for the 
crown of martyrdom, if that crown is reserved for 
you. And if ye miss the crown of those who are 
martyrs in deed, ye shall, however, receive the 


288 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

reward of those who are martyrs in intention the 
crown of "righteousness and angelical perfection. 

XII. But do not so desire to follow Christ to 
the garden of Gethsemane as to refuse following 
him now to the carpenter's shop, if Providence now 
call you to it. Do not lose the present day by idly 
looking back at yesterday, or foolishly antedating 
the cares of to-inorrow ; but wisely use every hour ; 
spending it as one who stands on the verge of 
time, on the border of eternity, and one who has 
his work cut out by a wise Providence from mo- 
ment to moment. Never, therefore, neglect using 
the two talents you have now, and doing the duty 
which is now incumbent upon you. Should ye be 
tempted to it under the plausible pretence of wait- 
ing for a great number of talents, remember that 
God doubles our talents in the way of duty, and 
that it is a maxim, advanced by Elisha Coles him- 
self, " Use grace and have [more] grace." There- 
fore, " to continual watchfulness and prayer, add 
continual employment/' says Mr. Wesley, "for 
grace flies a vacuum as well as nature : the devil 
fills whatever God does not fill." "As "by worlcs 
faith is made perfect, so the completing or destroy- 
ing of the work of faith, and enjoying the favor or 
suffering the displeasure of God, greatly depend 
on every single act of obedience." If you forget 
this, you will hardly do nmv whatsoever your hand 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 289 

findeth to do. Much less will you do it with all 
your might, for God, for eternity. 

XIII. Love is modest: it rather inclines to 
bashfulness and silence, than to talkative forward- 
ness. " In a multitude of words, there wanteth not 
sin ;" be therefore " slow to speak ;" nor cast your 
pearls before those who cannot distinguish them 
from pebbles. Nevertheless, when you are sol- 
emnly called upon to bear testimony to the truth, 
and to say " what great things God has done for 
you," it would be cowardice, or false prudence, not 
to do it with humility. Be then " always ready 
to give an answer to every man who [properly] 
asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, 
with meekness [without fluttering anxiety] and 
with fear," [with a reverential awe of God upon 
your minds.] 1 Peter iii. 15. Perfect Christians 
are "burning and shining lights," and our Lord 
intimates that, as "a candle is not lighted to be 
put under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it 
may give light to all the house," so God does not 
light the candle of perfect love to hide it in a cor- 
ner, but to give light to. all those who are within 
the reach of its brightness. If diamonds glitter, 
if stars shine, if flowers display their colors, and 
perfumes diffuse their fragrance, to the honor of 
the Father of lights, and Author of every good 
gift; if, without self-seeking, they disclose his 
10 


290 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.. 

glory to the utmost of their power, why should '" ye 
not go and do likewise?" Gold answers its^-most 
valuable end when it is brought to light, andrlfiMe 
to circulate for charitable and pious uses ^ and mot 
when it lies concealed in a miser's strong-box, or 
in the dark bosom of a mine. But when you lay 
out your spiritual gold for proper uses, beware of, 
imitating the Tanity of those coxcombs who, as 
often as they are about to pay for a trifle, pull out 
a handful of gold, merely to make a show of their 
wealth. 

XIY. Love or " charity rejoiceth in the [display 
of an edifying] truth." Fact is fact, all the world 
over. If you can say to the glory of Grod that 
you are alive, and feel very well, when it is so, why 
should you not also testify to his honor that you 
"live not, but that Christ liveth in you," if you 
really find that this is your experience ? Did not 
St. John say : " Our love is made perfect, because 
as he is, so are we in this world ?" Did not St. 
Paul write : " The righteousness of the law is ful- 
filled in us, who walk after the Spirit ?" Did he 
not, with the same simplicity, aver, that although 
" he had nothing and was sorrowful, yet he pos- 
sessed all things, and was always rejoicing?" 

Hence it appears that, with respect to the de- 
claring or concealing what God has done for your 
soul, the line of your duty runs exactly between 


CH;RISTI AN PERFECTION. 291 

the proud forwardness tf. some stiff Pharisees, and 
the voluntary humility of some stiff mystics. The 
fdnrall' yajnly boast of more' than they experience, 
and thus set up the cursed idol SELF : the latter 
ungratefully hide " the wonderful works of God," 
which the primitive Christians spoke of publicly in 
IL variety of languages ; and so refuse to exalt 
their gracious benefactor, CHRIST. The first error 
'"is undoubtedly more odious than the second ; but 
what need is there of leaning to either? Would 
ye avoid them both ? Let your tempers and lives 
always declare that perfect love is attainable in 
this life. And when you have a proper call to 
declare it with your lips and pens, do it without 
forwardness, to the glory of God ; do it with sim- 
plicity, for the edification of your neighbor ; do it 
with godly jealousy, lest ye should show the trea- 
sures of Divine grace in your hearts with the 
same self-complacence with which King Hezekiah 
showed his treasures, and the golden vessels of the 
temple, to the ambassadors of the King of Baby- 
lon, remembering what a dreadful curse this piece 
of vanity pulled down upon him: "And Isaiah 
said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord : 
Behold, the days come, that all that is in thy house 
shall he carried into Babylon : nothing shall he left, 
saith the Lord." If God so severely punished 
Hezekiah's pride, how properly does St. Peter 


292 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

charge believers to " give with fear an account of 
the grace which is in them !" and how careful 
should ye be to observe this important charge ! 

XY. If you will keep at the utmost distance 
from the vanity which proved so fatal to good 
King Hezekiah, follow an excellent direction of 
Mr. Wesley. When you have done any thing for 
Grod, or received any favor from him, retire, if not 
into your closet., into your heart, and say : " I come, 
Lord, to restore to thee what thou hast given, and 
I freely relinquish it, to enter again into my own 
nothingness. For what is the most perfect crea- 
ture in heaven or earth in thy presence, but a void, 
capable of being filled with thee and by thee, as 
the air, which is void and dark, is capable of being 
filled with the light of the sun ? Grant, therefore 

Lord, that I may never appropriate thy grace 
to myself, any more than the air appropriates to 
itself the light of the sun which withdraws it 
every day to restore it the next ; there being no- 
thing in the air that either appropriates his light 
or resists it. give me the same facility of re- 
ceiving and restoring thy grace and good works ! 

1 say thine, for I acknowledge that the root from 
which they spring is in thee, and not in me." 
" The true means to be filled anew with the riches 
of grace is thus to strip ourselves of it ; without 
this, it is extremely difficult not to faint in the 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 293 

practice of good works." "And, therefore, that 
your good works may receive their last perfec- 
tion, let them lose themselves in- God. This is 
a kind of death to them, resembling that of our 
bodies, which will not attain their highest life, 
their immortality, till they lose themselves in 
the glory of our souls, or rather of Glod, where- 
with they shall be filled. And it is only what 
they had of earthly and mortal, which .good works 
lose by this spiritual death." 

XVI. Would ye see this deep precept put in 
practice ? Consider St. Paul. Already possessed 
of Christian perfection, he does good works from 
morning till night. He warns every one night 
and day with tears. He carries the gospel 
from east to west. Wherever he stops, he 
plants a Church at the hazard of his life. But 
instead of resting in his present perfection, and 
in the good works which spring from it, "he 
grows in grace, and in the knowledge of our 
Lord Jesus Christ ;" unweariedly " following after, 
if that he may apprehend that [perfection] for 
which also he is apprehended of Christ Jesus" 
that celestial perfection of which he got lively 
ideas when he was " caught up to the third 
heaven, and heard unspeakable words, which it 
is not possible for a man to utter." With what 
amazing ardor does he run his race of Christian 


294 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

perfection for the prize of that higher perfection ! 
How does he forget the works of yesterday, 
when he lays" himself out for God to-day! 
" Though dead, he yet speaketh ;" nor can an 
address to perfect Christians be closed by a 
more proper speech than his. " Brethren," says 
he, "be followers of me I count not myself 
to have apprehended [my evangelical perfec- 
tion ;] but this one thing I do : forgetting those 
things which are behind, [settling in none of 
my former experiences, resting in none of my 
good works,] and reaching forth unto those things 
which are before, I press toward the mark for 
the [celestial] prize of the high calling of God 
in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many as 
are perfect, be thus minded; and if in any 
thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal 
even this unto you." In the meantime you 
may sing the following hymn of the Rev. Mr. 
Charles Wesley, which is descriptive of the de- 
struction of corrupt self-will, and expressive of 
the absolute resignation which characterizes a 
perfect believer : 

" To do, or not to do ; to have, 

Or not to have, I leave to thee : 
To be or not to be, I leave : 

Thy only will be done in me ! 
All my requests are lost in one, 
' Father, thy only -will be done !' 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 295 

" Suffice that for the season past, 

Myself in things Divine I sought ; 
For comforts cried -with eager haste, 

And murmured that I found them not : 
I leave it now to thee alone, 
* Father, thy only will be done !' 

' Thy gifts I clamor for no more, 

Or selfishly thy grace require, 
An evil heart to varnish o'er : 

JESUS, the" Giver, I desire, 
After the flesh no longer known : 
' Father, thy only will be done !' 

" Welcome alike the crown or cross, 

Trouble I cannot ask, nor peace, 
Nor toil, nor rest, nor gain, nor loss, 

Nor joy, nor grief, nor pain, nor ease, 
Nor life, nor death ; but ever groan, 
' Father, thy only will be done !' " 

This hymn suits all the believers who are at 
the bottom of Mount Zion, and begin to join 
"the spirits of just men made perfect." But 
when the triumphal chariot of perfect love glo- 
riously, carries you to the top of perfection's 
hill; when you are raised far above the common 
heights of the perfect; when you are almost 
translated into glory like Elijah, then you may 
sing another hymn of the same Christian poet : 

"Who in Jesus confide, 

They are bold to outride 
All the storms of affliction beneath ; 

With the prophet they soar 

To that heavenly shore, 
And outfly all the arrows of death. 


296 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 

"By faith we are come 

To our permanent home ; 
And by hope we the rapture improve : 

By lore we still rise, 

And look down on the skies 
For the heaven of heavens is love! 

"Who on earth can conceive 

How happy we live 
In the city of God, the great King ? 

What a concert of praise, 

When our Jesus's grace 
The whole heavenly company sing ! 

"What a rapturous song, 

When the glorified throng 
In the spirit of harmony join ! 

Join all the glad choirs, 

Hearts, voices, and lyres, 
And the burden is mercy Divine !" 

But when you cannot follow on to those rap- 
turous heights of perfection, you need not give up 
your shield. You may still rank among the per- 
fect, if you can heartily join in this version of 
Psalm cxxxi. : 

" Lord, thou dost the grace impart, ! 
Poor in spirit, meek in heart, 
I shall as my Master be, 
Rooted in humility. 

" Now, dear Lord, that thee I know, 
Nothing will I seek below, 
Aim at nothing great or high, 
Lowly both in heart and eye. 


CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 297 

" Simple, teachable, and mild, 
Awed into a little child, 
O^iiet now without my food, 
Weaned from every creature good. 

" Hangs my new-born soul on thee, 
Kept from all idolatry ; 
Nothing wants beneath, above, 
Resting in thy perfect love." 

That your earthen vessels may be filled with this 
love till they break, and you enjoy the Divine 
object of your faith without an interposing veil 
of gross flesh and blood, is the wish of one who 
sincerely praises God on your account, and ar- 
dently prays : 

" Make up thy jewels, Lord, and show 
The glorious, spotless Church below : 
The fellowship of saints make known ; 
And ! my God, might I be one ! 

" might my lot be cast with these, 
The least of Jesus' witnesses ! 
that my Lord would count me meet 
To wash his dear disciples' feet I 

" To wait upon his saints below ! 
On gospel errands for them go ! 
Enjoy the grace to angels given; 
And serve th.e royal heirs of heaven !" 


298 APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX I. 

REFERRING TO FLETCHER'S CHECKS, VOL. II., P. 498, OF 
THE EDITION PUBLISHED BY THE METHODIST EPIS- 
COPAL CHURCH AT NEW YORK. 

ALL allusion to the doctrine here taught by Mr. 
Fletcher is excluded for the following reasons : 

1 . His words apparently, if not expressly, imply 
that God has given two distinct laws to the human 
race laws totally differing in their requirements . 
which are here distinguished as, (1.) The Adamic 
or Paradisiacal law of innocence. (2.) The evan- 
gelical law of Christ, the law of liberty, or the law 
of love. 

Now, we find nothing in the Scriptures, in the 
attributes of the Deity, or in the fitness of things, 
to warrant such a distinction. On the other hand, 
the Scriptures plainly imply, while reason broadly 
affirms, a contradiction. 

God being holy, righteous, and immutable, we 
cannot conceive, constituted as we are, that his 
laws can be mere arbitrary enactments, " alterable 
at every suggestion of a capricious temper." " My 
ways are equal." "I am the Lord. I change 
not : the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." 
And if he does not change, how can the laws by 
which he governs the moral and intelligent of his 
universe be so easily altered ? Is not his intellect 
sufficiently generalizing to originate a code com- 
prehensive enough to embrace all possible cases, 


APPENDIX. 299 

and to suit all combinations of circumstances? 
Are there not certain great general principles from 
which flows all Divine legislation? Or can we 
rightly suppose one set of principles to control the 
legislation adapted to one part of the moral uni- 
verse, and a totally different set to preside over 
the enactment of laws for another part ? Or can 
we, with more reason, credit the notion that a 
change of circumstances can effect a change in the 
moral principles by which any part is governed ? 
If sor, what would become of uniformity in the 
Divine attributes ? Is, then, " the Lord our God 
one Lord ?" Again, we would ask, what useful pur- 
pose could such a change subserve ? We can imagine 
none ; while our confidence in the Divine govern- 
ment would thereby be immensely weakened. 

There is but one principle, so far as we know, 
at the foundation of all Divine legislation, and 
that is in the very nature of Grod. " God is love," 
is the fountain of all law. And there is but one 
law. "Thou shalt love," comprehends all com- 
mandments. Love is the table on which the law 
is engraven : on one side, love to Grod ; on the 
other, love to man. " On these hang all the law;" 
and we suspect that no diversity of circumstances 
can make the least change in this; whilst they 
might suggest and desiderate an innumerable mul- 
tiplicity of modifications. 

In the original enunciation of the law to our 
race, there was no provision made for transgression 
except its penalty. " Do this, or thou shalt die," 
comprehends all the mercy contemplated in the 
law, either before or since the fall. The fact that 


800 APPENDIX. 

mercy has interposed a victim to bear the penalty 
of its violation, does not at all affect the nature of 
the law itself, but rather proves its inflexibility. 

" But the Adamic law offered no repentance." 
True ; and of what avail, if it had ? for repentance 
is useless, except as a preparative for the exercise 
of faith, and faith is necessary only as the door 
through which Christ may enter the heart. Christ 
was not needed before man fell ; and when he did 
come, so far from intending to destroy the law 
that he might introduce a substitute or a modifica- 
tion, he expressly declares that he "came to fulfil 
it," himself and in his members, by example and by 
precept. So, then,. the availability of repentance 
and faith does not argue a change in the law, but 
only that infinite mercy has satisfied Divine justice 
with regard to at least one class of transgressors. 

It can easily be shown, by reference to various 
passages in the works of Mr. Fletcher, that this is 
all, or the most, that he intends by this distinc- 
tion, and that his words consequently imply what 
he did not intend. 

2. We see no good that can result from the re- 
tention of this doctrine, and of allusions to it in 
this work. 'It is utterly useless to the argument, 
and, therefore, if true, ought to be discarded. 
Besides, from its futility it subjects the whole 
argument to attack. 

3. Nothing which seems to be so well calculated 
to mislead the reader and to inculcate error, espe- 
cially if pregnant with mischief, or hurtful to the 
argument, ought to be introduced into this work, 
or retained in it. 


APPENDIX. 301 


APPENDIX II. 

REFERRING TO PAGE 646 OF THE " CHECKS." 

THE reasons which have determined the dis- 
placement of this extract from Mr. Wesley are the 
following : 

1. One passage in the omitted extract " To 
this confidence there needs to be added one 
thing more, the Divine evidence and conviction 
that he doeth it" has, by misapprehension, 
been the occasion of no little mischief. Many, 
imagining themselves accurate judges of the ex- 
tent and sincerity of their own faith, have 
wrought themselves into the persuasion that they 
were actually exercising just the required kind 
and degree of faith; and, without waiting for 
the sealing of the witnessing Spirit, have pro- 
fessed Christian perfection,- much to the subse- 
quent scandal of the doctrine. 

2. We seriously doubt the correctness of the 
doctrine inculcated in -this extract. We can- 
not conceive that any divinely inspired teach- 
ing can be adverse to a necessity of our nature. 
Can we be divinely convinced that a work is 
wrought before it is done? Does not faith ne- 
cessarily precede that of which it is the con- 
dition ? But faith is the condition of sanctifica- 
tion : how, then, can it be preceded by the work ? 


302 APPENDIX. 

3. Must not the Spirit of God first testify 
that the "work is clone before we can be divinely 
convinced of it? But that Spirit cannot testify 
to what is not done; that is, he cannot testify 
to our sanctification before we exercise faith, the 
previously required condition of the work. 

4. The text Mark xi. 22 which has been 
adduced in support of this passage from our 
author, and which he evidently had in mind at 
the time he penned it, cannot be reasonably 
interpreted so as to involve such absurdities 
as we have just noticed. We certainly can- 
not make strict application, in every respect, 
of that miraculous faith which was granted to 
the apostles, to the ordinary experience of the 
children of God ia attaining the stated bless- 
ings of the gospel. Such a course would lead 
to many wild extravagances. May not this 
passage be among the number of that peculiar 
kind? But the rejection of this interpretation 
does not devolve upon us the necessity of pre- 
senting a correct exposition. 


APPENDIX. ' 303 


APPENDIX III. 

REFERRING TO PARAGRAPH "X." ON PAGE 664 OF THE 

"CHECKS." 

WE give below the reasons for omitting a pas- 
sage from this paragraph : 

It is granted that the use of the good things of 
this life as the source of our happiness, in lieu of 
the love, joy, and peace which result from com- 
munion with God, would inevitably interrupt our 
union with him. But how is it possible that the 
enjoyment of the blessings of Divine Providence, 
when attended by earnest gratitude to God, should, 
in any degree, alienate our aifections from him ? 
Does not the enjoyment superadded to those 
things which are indispensable to our existence, 
which, of necessity, afford us pleasure, rather 
cause the holy heart to love him more, and, hence, 
to have closer communion with him ? Is not the 
refusal to partake of and enjoy these blessings, for 
fear of their injuring our spiritual interests, an 
imputation upon the wisdom and goodness of our 
kind Creator and Provider ? Again : Money may 
be used so as to glorify God. May I not, in hum- 
ble resignation to his will, desire it that I may use 
it to this purpose, and yet be innocent of 


ousness ? What harm is there in following Solo- 
mon's advice to desire a good name, that I may lay 
my reputation at the foot of the cross ? 


304 APPENDIX. 

We behold a beauteous landscape, and through 
it look, with admiring praise, to nature's God: 
what is there in this discordant with love to the 
God of nature and of grace ; or with a perfect con- 
trol of our moral faculties in accordance with the 
leadings of the Holy Spirit? Or why should a 
glorious sunset, or a piece of sculpture or painting, 
which represents the works of our Heavenly 
Father, produce a more unhappy effect ? 

St. Paul, treating another phase of this subject, 
says : " Every creature of God is good, and no- 
thing to be refused, if it be received with thanks- 
giving. To the pure, all things are pure." 1 
Tim. iv. 4. 

All concede that a man should love and provide 
for his wife and family ; that he who does not 
" hath denied the faith, and is confessedly worse 
than an infidel." Yet how is it possible for a 
right-minded man to do this, and not find in it a 
high state of pleasure ? 

From these considerations we conclude that, 

1. The advice contained in the expunged ex- 
tract is not necessary to maintain the highest 
spirituality. 

2. It apparently implicates the wisdom of our 
Creator. 

3. It seems to be opposed to the plain letter of 
the Scriptures. And, 

4. It is seemingly inconsistent with some of 
our highest obligations. 

THE END. 


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31 460 861 


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